20 years later
by vstarlightwolf
Summary: The mermaids have gone seperate ways. What happens if their daughters reconnect after 20 years? Will they find out about their parents biggest secrets? Will they be able to reunite them?  set 20 years after season 3, the story is better than the summary!
1. Off to Gold Coast

**H2O- Just add water fanfiction**

Starring:

Lorraine Chadwick, Rikki Chadwick, Zane Bennett, Terry Chadwick

Christina Dove, Emma Dove, Ash Dove

Hope Benjamin, Bella Benjamin, Will Benjamin, Melusine Benjamin, Rick Benjamin, Angel Benjamin, Rose Benjamin

Louise McCartney, Cleo McCartney, Lewis McCartney, Tony McCartney

Catherine Watsford, Charlotte Watsford

**Wednesday**

Catherine's POV

"Mom?" I ask. "Mom!" I wave my hand in front of her face.

"Huh?" she asks.

"What are you staring at?" I want to know.

"You see that island?" she raises her arm and points at an island that seems like a green gemstone in a sea of diamonds.

"It's pretty. Are you going to paint it? It'll make a great picture"

"That's Mako Island" she ignores my question. "We'll go there tomorrow"

"We just arrived and your already planning a sightseeing tour?" I secretly roll my eyes. I was hoping to enjoy a few quite days before school starts on Monday. I want to relax. All my life we've been living in the center of huge cities all around the world, never close to the beach. So I want to enjoy this as long as it will last. My mom was excited of moving here because this has been the place were she spent a part of her youth and where she got the inspiration for her paintings from. She's a well- known artist, although I don't understand what people see in her work. She's always painting the same things, fish, water, moons, mermaids. I'm going to do better than that, on day. I don't want to be mean but I am better than her. Sure she's a great artist but in my opinion she's a little boring. Old- fashioned. Not exciting at all.

"I'll show you something" she says. "You'll be stunned"

"Okay?" I ask a little confused.

She just nods and walks back to the street, but I could swear I hear her mumbling:

"I'm going to make her a mermaid" I shake my head at that ridiculous idea and follow her.

It's not far to our new house. Or better new mansion. It's a really classic place. It's built in the style of the beginning of 20's century and surrounded by grass that is perfectly short. On the back side of the house is a canal, leading to the ocean. My mother choose it really well. Inside it's decent, expensive but not over loaded with stuff. Stylish and modern with a touch of old colonial feeling. Somewhere plays soft jazz- music. I walk up to my room to unpack my stuff. I already love the place. It shows that its owners, means me and my mother are people that are wealthy but don't boast about it. Well, maybe we do but it can't be that wrong. My mother worked really hard, went from exhibition to exhibition and moved from town to town, always searching for customers. It's hard to live from art, but she made it. One day I'll be just as successful as her.

"Cathy! Five- o'-clock tea!" My mother calls. I go downstairs. Tea is a family tradition. Every civilized culture has traditions. And we are the image of a perfectly civilized society.

I sit down when I spot a picture on a shelf.

"That's not dad!" I say surprised.

"Well, I was a teenager once, so I had other boyfriends then just him" she answers with a smile.

"So he was your boyfriend?" I ask curious. My father died when I was seven and I can't imagine my mother with someone else. I reach for the picture. I can tell that it was taken somewhere around this area. The guy next to my mother is blond and has a face that seems friendly and open, maybe a little boring. More the buddy type then boyfriend material.

"Yeah. But not for long" she says and gets this facial expression she always shows when she's really pissed at someone.

"What happened?"

"Oh you know… I thought Lewis and I were meant to be, but his ex- girlfriend, his childhood- friend took him away from me. And not only him" my mother hisses through her teeth. I know she'll only get more pissed when I keep asking but I can't help it.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't ask. I'll explain it when we're at Mako Island, okay?"

I nod. I know that she won't tell me when she doesn't want to. But I can't help but wonder what this island got to do with it.

**Thursday**

Lorraine's POV

"Lorraine?" Ms Carter, the boss of the orphanage asks. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure thing" I shrug and look at her.

"In my office?"

I follow her. She sits in her huge chair and gives me one of her famous strict looks. But then her expression softens.

"Sit down" she orders in a serious voice. I look at her worried.

"Is it my mother?" I ask because I can't imagine another reason. She's the only relative I have, but she's more dead then alive. When I was a few months old we got in a horrible car crush. She's been in a coma ever since, for the last 16 years. Nobody knew her name or where she came from, which means I had to grow up in the orphanage. I always felt like an orphan. What's the difference in having a dead mother or in having a mother that lies in a hospital bed in a deep slumber she won't wake up from?

"Did she die?" I ask coldly. Sometimes I wish she would. I gave up hope she would wake up and always acted as if she was dead. I see no point in keeping an empty body alive. It's unnatural to see this almost dead body, see the frozen meaningless expression on her face. When I was younger I sometimes imagined that her ghost was trapped on earth, that she came to visit me in my dreams or that she was an angel that fell from heaven because nobody knew where she came from. She's only a distant creature to me, almost mystical and seems wrong to keep her on this cold earth.

"No Lorraine, she's not dead. Do you remember how the media tried to find out about her family?"

"Sure do" I say sarcastically. "That's my favorite memory from when I was not even a year old. Of course I remember"

Ms Carter purses her lips.

"Goodness, the fact that I forgot it's been a long time doesn't need to offend you" she says pouting. I have to keep myself from laughing at her stupid face.

"If it's not her, what is it?" I ask, not trying to hide my impatience.

"Well, it looks like we found a family member of yours"

"After 16 years? I don't think so. That's probably just some couple who can't get to adopt a child the usual way" I answer, just to turn my growing hope down.

"No, it's not just some couple. It's your grandfather"

"My grandfather?" I ask, not really believing her words.

"Yes. We've already met with him and he showed us some old photos of his daughter who disappeared 17 years ago and it's definitely your mother. We decided that you'll live with him"

For the first time in my life I'm speechless. I probably stare at her with my mouth hanging open. She smiles.

"You're flight is tomorrow morning"

"My flight? Where does he live?"

"Gold Coast"

I gasp. That's all the way on the other side of the continent. Whatever made my mother leave made her want to get as far away as possible. I rise from my seat.

"I'll… I better start to pack and say goodbye to everyone. What about my mom's body?"

"She can't be transported there, I'm sorry. We'll see what'll happen to her. Maybe her father will allow the doctors to cut of the machines and let her die"

I nod stiffly and open the door to walk out, but then I turn around.

"One question" I say.

"Yes?"

"What's her name? What is going to be my last name?"

"Chadwick. Your last name will be Chadwick, because your grandfather doesn't know about your dad, he didn't even know you existed. Your mother's full name is Rikki Chadwick"

"Rikki" I repeat. "Chadwick. Lorraine Chadwick. Lorraine Chadwick and her grandpa live in a small house in Gold Coast"

"A trailer, I'm afraid"

"Well then a trailer. That's way cooler anyways. Lorraine Chadwick and her grandpa live in a trailer in Gold Coast. Sounds good"

I close the door behind me and walk down the corridor. I look at the pictures on the wall, painted by all the kids who have been living here. Somewhere has to be a picture of me… I find it. It's supposed to show a mermaid. Even I've been a girly girl once. I grab it and stuff it in my pocket. Maybe I'm lucky and my grandpa really likes me. Maybe he'll be happy to see something I did when I was a kid. Damn, I'm getting all sentimental now.

Catherine's POV

Seriously? Who'd get the idea to go to the island when it's almost dark? I sigh as I watch my mother, trying to get the boat into the canal.

"No way!" I yell at my mom. "Where did you get that stupid idea from? I'm not getting into a boat with you! We have no idea how to handle it. Besides I won't explore some weird jungle island without a guide" I turn around and stomp away.

"Catherine!" she yells after me, "I can't do this without you! You have to trust me, the night is perfect, it's full moon! Just come with me, you'll understand"

"No!" I yell and slam the door. I don't understand her at all. My mom never did crazy things. But since we arrived here she's been weird. There's been a tension in the air.

"Catherine" she yells as she comes inside. When she sees me her voice suddenly gets all sweet and innocent. "Cathy. You know that I'd never ever get you into danger, right? I'm your mother sweetie! I just expect you to trust me, because if you don't trust me something goes wrong into our relationship. Come on now, let's take a boat ride"

I shake my head, unsure what to say. My mother looks at me with pleading eyes.

"You trust me, don't you?" she asks. I nod, but then turn on my heel and run up to my room. She just managed to talk a bad conscience into me. Talking and manipulating, that's the big strength of Charlotte Watsford. I don't say it's a bad thing, sometimes people need a little manipulating because they don't know what's good for them.


	2. meeting

**Friday**

Louise's POV

"Did you know that there is more Nitrogen in the air than Oxygen? It's 78% Nitrogen and only 21% Oxygen!" my seven-year-old brother Tony says and looks up from his scientific book.

"Wow, that's interesting!" I answer.

"Fascinating" he says and starts reading again. He's too smart for his age. And way too interested in science. But that's no wonder with our parents Our dad is really smart. He's a professor at university, but when he doesn't have to teach he's always doing some research because that's his very first love. Besides our mother of course. I don't think she's as smart as our dad or as scientific interested as him, but she won some science award in school. I once asked her how she won that award, because science doesn't seem to be her world, she's a dolphin trainer for heavens sake. She said that there was this island they really loved when they were teenagers and that there were pretty rare stones. From what I've heard from dad it's not only a geological rarity but there are also tons of animals and plants, especially in the ocean around it. Sharks, turtles… Mom described as if she had seen it all by herself. When she told me about it, it seemed so full of life I always felt as if I could touch it. There was a special gleam when she talked about it, a hint of sadness, a trace of lost happiness. Maybe it was their very special hideaway throughout their teenage years. I was am so excited about moving there! Well, not at the island itself, but into the next city, Gold Coast. I stretched my legs and looked around the plane. A flight from the U.S. to Australia definitely takes it's time and my legs are starting to feel weird. I can't wait to arrive, but I have to admit I'm also scared. I've never been to Australia before. I wonder if everyone at school will recognize me as the American girl? Hopefully not, I don't like to draw that much attention on me. I'm more the quiet and shy person. That's why I don't make friends that easily and now I'm kinda scared I won't make any in Australia.

I turn around because mom and dad are sitting behind me and Tony. Dad's sleeping and drooling.

"Mom?" I ask.

"Mh?"

"How long will it take until we arrive?"

She shrugs, then smiles evil and nudges dad. He shoots up.

"What? I'm coming! I'll protect you from the full moon!" he says, still caught in his dream.

"Lewis!" Mom says angry.

"Oh. Everything okay Cleo?"

"Everything's perfect. Louise was just asking how long it'll take until we arrive"

"Can't be long anymore" he shrugs.

"Hey! You!" someone yells from behind. "Sit down! You're blocking my view" Mom giggles as dad sits down.

"What was he thinking? I was not blocking his view on anything." Dad grouses.

"Maybe you were just annoying him" my mom says softly.

"Annoying him? Cleo, he obviously just needed someone to yell at"

I turn back around as I hear my parents fighting, a small smile on their lips. They are just the cutest couple ever and nothing will be able to break them apart. Nothing in America and nothing in Australia. Or at least that's what I'm hoping.

Lorraine's POV

I'm officially pissed. I've been waiting for the last two hours for my so called grandpa to show up, sitting on my bag that holds everything I own. I have no problem with being on myself, but not in a city I don't know with nothing but a name. Rikki Chadwick. Not even my grandpa's one. Well, I've been in worse situations. I sigh and get up grabbing my bag. I look around to find a tourism center where I can get a map. It can't be that hard to find the trailer park and when I found it I'm just gonna knock on every door, asking if they know me. I get on my toes to get a better view and get run over by some little kid that is rushing into its grandpas arms.

"Hey!" I yell after him. "Get back here and say sorry if you were raised slightly well!"

"He won't hear you" I hear a low voice behind me. I turn around to find a girl my age that is clutching it's designer purse nervously. My eyes wander along her clothes, examine every part of her expensive clothes and her stylish shoes. Spoiled little brat. She shifts uncomfortably.

"And who are you?" I finally ask. She stares at me before the words seem to get through to her brain.

"I'm Louise" she says and stretches out her hand. American, I can tell it by the way she speaks. When I don't grab her hand she blushes in embarrassment and uses it to point at the little boy who knocked me over. "His sister"

"Shouldn't you be running into your grandpa's arms then?" I ask rude, probably because my own grandpa obviously forgot about me.

"Yeah… I mean, I just wanted to say sorry"

"Awesome. You said sorry, so bye. See 'ya around, or maybe not" I say and walk away.

I've been walking around the trailer park for ages and I'm starting to loose hope. What do I do when I don't find him? Look for the next police station. I sigh and sit down on the nearest doorstep. The door behind me opens and a woman asks obviously just as pissed as me:

"Can I help you?" One last try.

"I'm looking for Mr. Chatwick?" I ask and turn around.

"Terry? He lives down there" the woman says and points at some trailer.

"Really? Thank you!" I say surprised. She nods.

"But he's not home"

" Great" I mumble sarcastically. Should have known it wouldn't work out that easy. The woman sighs.

"He's searching for his granddaughter I think. Stayed up all night to prepare everything for her arrival and then overslept and missed the bus. Guess she didn't wait that long. And if the bus stuck in traffic she for sure went away on her own and now he's looking for her. Poor little girl"

"Yeah, that poor little girl would be me. Does he have a cell phone?" I ask her. She stares at me.

"No. I should've known you were Rikki's daughter. You look like her, you know?"

"Really? I never thought so… Her hair is blond, mine dark, she's smaller then me and I never figured I had her nose or something"

" That's not what I mean. The way you talk, the way you move, your facial expressions, that's what I meant"

Now I'm the one to stare at her. I can't picture the way my mom would act like when she was awake. I only now the motionless body in the hospital bed, the empty expression on her face. I can't help but smile when I imagine that I'm really similar to my mother in some way.

"And you inherited her smile!" the woman says triumphantly. "Terry used to say that she got it from her mother, so you got it from your grandmother"

"That's so cool" I say. "I never had a family or something"

"So I've heard. I'm Sue by the way"

"Lorraine" I answer.

"Hey look! Seems like your granddad's back! Terry! Hey, Terry! She's already here, your little girl's smart little girl!"

I close my eyes and admit to myself that I'm scared of meeting the first alive family member I ever had. I imagine the ocean breeze blowing my fear away and calming me, then I turn around. There's an old man standing on the street. He's got almost no hair anymore and is wearing a, I just have to admit it, cool shirt.

"Hey" I say as he just stares at me. He comes closer and looks at me like he couldn't believe I was here.

"Hi?" I try again. "You can hear me, right?"

Suddenly I'm engulfed in a tight hug. And I feel that he's crying as I hug him back.

**Saturday**

Hope's POV

"WAKE!" my little sister yells into my ear.

"Go and wake up Rick" I demand and bury my head in the pillows.

"HE WAKE UP!" the two- year- old says and starts jumping on my stomach.

"Ow! Stop it, I'll get up!" I say and crawl out of my bed. The sun is shining brightly through the windows and draws patterns made of light on the floor. I walk out on the balcony, still wearing my night gown and find my whole family already having breakfast. My whole family, that's mom, dad, my sister Angel who is thirteen, my sister Rose who is ten, my seven- year- old brother Rick and my sister Melusine, named after a mermaid from old European tales, but most of the time called Sina.

"Morning!" Mom says. "I sent Sina to get you because you have work today, right?"

"Oh! I would have forgotten about that!"

"You forget everything" Rick says and shakes his head.

"Yeah. It's sad, isn't it?" Rose adds.

"Hey!" I protest "I'm not that bad!"

"Suuuure" Angel says. I sigh. That's just the way they are. They like to pick on me for every possible reason. Of course they are not serious about it. We all love eachother, you can almost feel the love in the air… No really, it's true. I've got the coolest family ever. My parents are pretty cool. My dad was a professional free–diver and my mom is a kindergarten teacher. They really raised us well, I guess. Dad's such a calm person and doesn't like to fight. Mom is full of life, always in action always doing something. She's got this really bright and funny personality. She's a sunshine. Bad mood is something that's really not common in our family.

"I better get going. See ya!"

"Don't you want to change?" Dad looks and eyes my night gown. "Right! Thanks for reminding me!" I would have totally forgotten about that.

Seems like everyone is in the café today. Well, it's the last weekend of vacation, so most people are back from their trips but want to enjoy their last free weekend the fullest. I rush from table to table, say hi to everyone I know and take the orders.

"You messed up my juice!" Someone yells after me.

"I'm so sorry!" I say and walk over to a girl that's sitting all by herself. She seems pretty pissed. Her light blue eyes are piercing through my natural defense wall as she says:

"You gave me a strawberry shake instead of banana!"

"So sorry!"

She sighs.

"Just get me another juice, okay?"

"Right up! Hey, are you new here, I can't remember we would have met before"

"Yeah, I'm new. Why do you care?"

"Oh, you know, just curious!" I say. It's always exciting to meet someone new. "So what's your name?" I ask her. She looks at me like she thinks if she should really tell me, but then she smiles. "I'm Lorraine"

"Cool. I'm Hope. Can I call you Rainy? Lorraine's so long!"

"Uhm… Rainy sounds cute"

"You are cute!"

"Anything but that" she says.

"No really! You just need to smile. C'mon, try it!" She looks at me, totally confused. I sometimes have that effect on people. They are mostly sad people that have gone through a lot of problems. Poor girl.

"Did I scare you?" I ask feeling guilty. "I'll just get you your juice"

"No! Wait! Why is the café called 'Rikki's'?" she asks out of the blue. But I'm always happy to tell a story.

"Well" I say and sit down. I lower my voice so it'll sound more secretive. "It's said that she was the owner's girlfriend, 20 years ago. They were completely and absolutely in love. The owner was known for being the biggest jerk around, I honestly don't think he changed that much, but while she was with him he was almost nice. She was not known for being a ray of sunshine either, but she was loyal and a good friend. Anyway, Rikki and her boyfriend were running the café together, but they drifted apart and fought and then they broke up. Rikki dropped out of business, but the café kept her name because it was her idea. The café was going bust but somehow the owner, Mr Bennett, managed to save it. They never got back together although they had still feelings for eachother. Rikki's life was going down the drain, she and her best friends parted ways and a few years later she disappeared and wasn't seen ever again"

Rainy's staring at me intensely.

"How do you know about all of this?"

"My mom and Rikki went to school together and my mom also used to sing at the café"

"Cool. Do you sing?"

Her question catches me off guard.

"I… I never tried" I admit. Why did I never?

"Maybe you should! Are you getting me my juice?" she says.

I get up and apologize. So I get her the drink and when she leaves I think that we'll hopefully meet again. I got a feeling that we could be great friends.

**Sunday**

Christina's POV

"Morning!" I greet my parents.

"Morning" they mumble, both doing their work. They are busy people. Dad runs a very successful catering business and mom is his most important staff member. They are planning on starting a new business, a restaurant with food from all over the world. So mom has a lot to organize and dad needs to take care about the catering all by himself.

"I'm going for a swim" I tell them.

"No, wait Christina!" Dad says.

"Why what's wrong?" I ask him confused.

"Yes Ash, what's wrong?" Mom asks and looks up from her paper work.

"Well… it's the last day before school starts again, so I thought I'd do something nice for all of us" he smiles. "Tada! Opera tickets for all of us"

"Gosh Ash! That's quite a surprise" Mom says "But I can't"

He looks at her like a child that didn't get a present for Christmas.

"Why not?" he asks. "C'mon Emma, you need a break"

"No, I need to get my work done. We can't go to the opera tonight, just like you said, it's the last day before school starts. Christina needs to prepare everything and she has to have a good sleep tonight. Opera is no option for today. I'm wondering how much money you wasted on those tickets!"

"What does it matter? We deserve to have some fun!"

"After our work is done, yes!" My parents are now facing eachother, yelling. This happens way too often in the last time. I grab my bag and leave the house before they make me pick sides. When I arrive at the ocean I inhale the salty air. If I would train swimming properly I'd need to train in a pool, but that isn't my world. I'm not a competitive swimmer. Focusing on winning every fight makes life so horribly complicated. Sometimes I don't understand why my Mom's always so keen on winning. Sure, I want to do good, but not in everything. I'm a straight- A student, just like her, I spent tons of time on doing my homework and I like to have everything sort out, but sometimes I need a break. Those are the moments were I'm getting along with my father better than with my Mom. He's much more relaxed.

I get rid of those thoughts and dive into the cool waters of the ocean. Sometimes I just close my eyes and go underwater to picture what it'd be like to be a fish or a mermaid. It relaxes me to think of myself as a creature of the ocean. In the ocean I don't have to prove that I'm tough and smart. In the ocean I'm just another one of its creatures. Another part of the huge water masses that surround me. Not made for eternity, only appearing for a moment in the circle of life, an infinitesimal being in the eternity of salt and water.

Louise's POV

I'm sitting on the beach, enjoying the breeze that plays with my hair. I close my eyes and lay back.

"Hey!" I suddenly hear a voice. I shoot up immediately. Standing in front of me is a blonde girl, wearing a blue bikini and dripping on her towel.

"Hi" I say shyly. I can tell that she's a confident girl, a popular girl, only by looking at the way she stands and talks. Her body language gives it away.

"You'll get all dirty when your laying in the sand like that. You can borrow one of my towels"

"Really?" I ask a little dumbfounded. Is she being so nice because she noticed my expensive clothes, she probably has a look for those or is she just being nice because she's being nice. Well, if she's nice I shouldn't wait to enjoy it.

"Thanks" I say as she gives me one of the towels and lays down on the other one next to me.

"I'm Christina" she introduces herself.

"Louise" I answer.

"You're not from here, huh?"

"No, I just moved here"

"Really? That's cool. Why did you move?"

"My Dad quit his job because he wanted to concentrate on research on some rare species. He says Gold Coast is the ideal place. He grew up around here. Both of my parents did" I explain. That girl really got me talking! She's so nice.

"What are there names? Maybe my parents know them, went to school with them or something like that"

"Cleo and Lewis McCartney"

"I'll ask if they know them" Christina promises. I smile at her with a warm feeling in my stomach. I already made one friend before school even started and I didn't have to try that hard. Maybe everything is going to work out just fine. I guess I like Australia.

Christina and I keep talking until lunchtime. I ask her about school, about the teachers and the classmates, just to have some basic knowledge. Christina seems really smart to me, she and my parents would get along perfectly. I was really lucky to meet her first, out of all people. If you don't count that girl on the airport. I was right, she is a popular girl. There's only one girl she'd consider her enemy.

"Really?" I ask "Who?"

"Hope Benjamin. The problem is not that she isn't nice, she is really nice, she is annoyingly nice. But we don't get along. I know what I want from life, I know what I'm doing. I make plans, but she… We once had to do a project together, you know? I figured everything out. I told her what she had to do until we could meet at my place and prepare the presentation and can you imagine that she just forgot about it? She forgot about doing the project, she even forgot about meeting me. I got a bad grade, because of her! My Mom was really pissed and didn't believe that Hope did absolutely nothing, so she dragged me to the Benjamin's place to talk things out. But she never did, because when she met Hope's mother she stared at her with so much hatred… I've never seen my mother like this. Never. She stared at her and then she just left, without saying a single word"

"Really?" I ask fascinated. I love family mysteries. "Have you asked her about it?"

"Of course. She just said that she and her went to school together and never got along"

"And that's it?" I ask in disbelief.

"If there was more she would have told me. For my Mom, honesty is the most important thing. Anyway, I got to go. I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Sure" I answer. She walks away and waves one last time before she disappears. I should probably head home for lunch, just like her, but I can't stop thinking what could have happened between Christina's mother and Mrs. Benjamin. It's none of my business, but my curiosity often gets the best of me.


	3. School

**I'm in the mood for posting today! Thanks to those who reviewed, that really means a lot to me. I'm glad if you like my story. It may take a while until mermaid magic comes in, but it definitaly will! The story deals mainly with Lorraine, Hope, Catherine and Christina but I'll also describe what happens (and happened) to their parents, but most likely in later chapters. if you have any suggestions on how to improve the story, i'm open for ideas.  
**

**Monday**

Hope's POV

Such a wonderful day! Or at least it could be a wonderful day. The sun is shining brightly, the birds are tweeting… and school started again. I haven't figured out yet if I like school. It's cool to see all of my friends, but school is always a duty. Sure, duties are important but I just can't cope with it. I'm a free spirit. I can't spend a wonderful day in a classroom, it makes me feel like I'm trapped. But will. I know that school is important for my future life and I don't want to stay dumb, right? So I stuff my books in my locker and look around. I say my hi and hello to a few people I know, chat with some girls about their vacation and wonder were my best friend, Marc, is. Then I spot a familiar face. It's not him, but he can wait right now.

"Hey!" I yell. "Rainy!"

She stops and gives me a death glare obviously angry to be introduced to the whole school with her new cute nickname. I decide to ignore her anger and hug her. Being the new girl must be hard and girls in situations like that need hugs. Everybody needs hugs every now and then.

"You're looking good" I compliment her. Her light blue top makes her eyes shine like waterdrops in the sunlight.

"Are you sure you're talking to me?" she asks.

"Don't you think you look good?" I ask confused. She's pretty, really pretty. Her eyes, her long dark hair with the curls in it and her slim figure.

"No?" she answers.

"Oh" I say a little shocked. "Maybe you should try new clothes" I then assume. "You know, bows and flowers in your hair instead of having it hang wildly around your face. Maybe a dress instead of those simple shirts or tops, flats instead of converse. You could look like a really sweet little girl"

"I'd rather die"

"Just a few suggestions. But believe me you're pretty this way too. So, what classes do you have?"

"Why would you care?"

"Because we could sit next to each other if you had the same class" I say excited. She's looking at me as if I'm crazy. I don't know why I care about her that much, I just have a feeling that we are more alike than we know. I grab the paper with her schedule on it before she even realizes what's going on. "Yes!" I yell. "C'mon, we both got social studies now"

I drag Rainy with me. We are lucky and get a desk directly by the window. She's still stunned because of my friendly attitude. Or at least I think so because she looks a bit puzzled. Finally she asks:

"Did you just kidnap me?"

"Nope" I giggle. "I do that to all of my friends. So you better get used to it" I look around to see if Marc is in class with me, when I spot a tall blond girl.

"Oh, come on!" I whine. "Don't tell me I'm in class with Christina Dove!"

"Who is Christina Dove?"

"Some girl who just doesn't like me" I answer. I never understood what Christina's problem is exactly. I once messed up some stupid project work, but she can't be mad because of that, right? Or does it have something to do with my Mom? My Mom and Mrs. Dove literally hate each other. When they meet, for example at a school assembly, there's this horrible tension in the air, those glances and mean comments. It's horrible. My Mom isn't the person to hate on someone, I can't really believe she's able to hate. But there's no other explanation for her relationship to Mrs. Dove.

"Hope? Has your brain gained wings and flown to a cloud where everyone plays the harp and sings hallelujah?" I hear a voice.

"Huh?" I ask confused.

"I was talking to you" Rainy said.

"Sorry. I was spacing out. What's the big emergency?"

"That girl. Do you know her?" she asks and I follow her glance to find a girl I have never seen before. To me she looks like a freakin' model. Long legs, wonderful dark hair, stylish clothes and a pretty face. She's looking around a little nervous. Desperately searching for a face she knows. When she spots Christina, her expression lightens up and she walks over to her.

"I have never seen her before" I admit.

"Well I have. We met at the airport"

"Really? What's her name?" I ask curiously.

"Why would I remember her name?" Rainy asks. I give her a sharp look.

"Fine" she grumbles. "I think it was Louise or something like that"

"Louise" I repeat and look over at her again. Then I spot the boy who is just entering the room and my lips automatically form a smile. "Marc!" I yell and wave at him. "Over here!" He flashes me a smile, this really special one, the one he only smiles for his friends and comes to sit with us.

"Hey" he says in his deep voice as he puts his backpack on the table.

"Looks like you've gotten a tan" I mock him. He examines his perfectly pale arms carefully then looks at me with a lifted eyebrow. "Okay, I lied" I admit. "You'll never get a tan"

He nods. He's the complete opposite to me, all pale and secretive, dressed in black, sometimes dark blue or purple and barely talking. I'm an outgoing person, sun- kissed skin, blond hair and I prefer colors such as white, lemon green and a warm yellow tone.

"Marc, meet Rainy" I introduce them. "Rainy meet Marc" He gives her a nod, not really paying attention. Or at least he makes it seem like he doesn't pay attention. I know him pretty well and I can tell that he already got the picture of her permanently on his mind. I bet he's going to draw her, just from his memory. He's an amazing artist and he specialized on drawing people. Sometimes just random people, like a cashier or a lady he bumped into, sometimes his family or friends. Rainy looks at him. None of them tries to make conversation, but I think they'll get along.

Catherine's POV

I look around the room to get an overview on my classmates. Some seem nice, decent, normal people. I guess I'll get along just fine if I just stay away from the people that are different from me. For example the populars. The cool people. In this room they obviously consist of two people. A tall blonde who's chatting with everyone around her table and a guy who's constantly chewing something. They look like they own this place. They are part of the in-crowd. I've been to many schools and as cliché as it sounds; teenage society really consists of the common stereotypes. A sad story if you think about it. The people that are considered hot will always be the ones to achieve glory and admiration, while classy and smart people never get the attention they deserve. But maybe it's better that way. Smart people look up to the crown of human development while the dumb people admire the ones they are attracted to. There are a lot more dumb people in the world so the populars of course get more attention. Which means the smart people, the people that should be idols for every successful and civilized community, are an elitist circle and I am proud to say I belong to them. I don't want to sound full of myself but I can't help it if it's true! So I'm not going to become friends with the populars. Next to the couple (they are obviously a couple because they just started kissing) sits a girl that got the looks of a popular but seems tense and nervous. Maybe she's new around here, just like me. She'd probably glad if I came over and talked to her… It's always good to have someone following you around and she looks like she needs someone she can follow around. I'm going to let fate decide. If I got next period with her too, I'm going to talk to her. If I don't I'll stick to the nerds. Who else should I stay away from? Hippie- girl, emo-boy and tomboy in the back of the classroom, by the window. They look like they are having fun together or at least the blond hippie. Girl in the white dress does. Emo-boy just stares at his desk intensely and Tomboy, seems pissed. But she's probably someone who never really has fun or at least plays it cool. Her hair is dancing around her head as if she just fell out of bed. I don't understand how someone can be so sloppy.

The bell rings and the teacher enters the room. I get those thoughts off my mind and concentrate on the lesson.

Lorraine's POV

Hope was talking to me through the whole lesson. She obviously has no problem with listening and talking at the same time because everytime the teacher asks her if she's paying attention she can repeat everything she just said. I wish I was gifted that way! But I'm not so by the end I have no idea what topic the teacher treated. I'll just take a wild guess and say it was about the way this year will be organized and about rising requirements, now that we're in grade eleven. I should try to get through this year without failing or else I'll end up in a trailer like my granddad… Not that this was something bad, it's a pretty cool home you could say. Better than the orphanage. My granddad is really nice. We get along really well although I got a feeling that looking at me makes him kind of sad. I remind him of my mother. But he's actually happy that I'm there! He considers me a gift. I gave him the picture of the mermaid and he pinned it on the wall. It's pretty awesome, just sometimes a little awkward when we don't know how to act around each other. I don't know if he's ready yet to open up about my mother. I don't even know if I'm ready to know more about her. So I'll just have to stick to other sources to get to know something about her. I wonder if she really was the girl from the café. She just has to be, the story fits so well with the facts I know about my mother. Maybe I could ask Mr. Bennett. When he was her ex- boyfriend he has to know her pretty well. But he's not a family member to me, so the whole conversation wouldn't be that awkward.

"Hope?" I ask the girl who's walking beside me.

"Yes?" she looks up with that cute little smile on her lips.

"The story about Rikki, I can't get it off my mind. Do you think I can talk to this Mr. Bennett? Ask him a few questions?"

"Why would you want to do such a thing?" she asks confused. I look at her for a second, not sure if I should tell her, but than I decide that this is personal information, and personal information is called personal information because it's none of other people's business.

"I just want to. Are you telling me where I can meet him?"

"I don't think I could give you any useful information. And neither would he. He's not exactly nice, you know? And Rikki is a topic that's absolutely taboo. Besides, his wife doesn't like it when he only thinks about her. I overheard them fighting once"

"So he's married?" I ask and for some odd reason I'm shocked to hear that.

"Yeah, but everyone knows it's only because people expect a famous business man to be married. I honestly don't think he loves Miriam, but she fits into the world he lives in and she probably was the only girl that would want such a jerk"

"Do they have children?"

"Nope. Would ruin her trim figure. Why that interest?"  
"It's nothing, really" I answer, but we both know it's not true.

"You'll tell me when you're ready" she says in that typical cheesy American-movie kind of tone, then smiles and walks off, yelling: "See 'ya later!" I'm left with my own thoughts. Suddenly someone touches my arm. I jump and turn around to find Marc.

"Goodness, ghost-boy, you scared me!"

"You want to talk to Mr. Bennett really badly, huh?" he asks. I roll my eyes at him.

"I won't tell you why"

"Don't really care" he half- smiles. "But my dad is one of his business partners and our family is invited for some fancy party, this Saturday. You could come with me, as a date"

"Why would I go on a date with you, out of all people?" I scoff, not really believing my ears.

"You obviously didn't understand me" he explains calmly. "It's not a real date. Just two friends"

I give him a look.

"Okay, let's call it a deal" he suggests. "You play the date for him and my parents so we can present a happy family and I get you the chance to talk to Mr. Bennett"

"Sounds good" I say and for he first time since we met I smile at him.

Christina's POV

When I get home from school I'm greeted by silence. My parents are sitting on the table with the food already on their plates. I hate this uncomfortable silence. It's always present when they had one of their many fights.

"I'm home" I say because they obviously didn't see me entering the house. My Mom's head shoots around and she flashes me a smile. She tries really hard to make it seem like we're a perfect family, but we all know that it's not true anymore. Honestly, I got no idea what happened to us. Mom and Dad still love each other, I'm sure about that. Maybe we just drifted apart because of all the afford they put into their work. When I was younger we used to spend the week-ends doing various activities, riding or surfing, sometimes hiking or even a whole camping trip. But when I got older and business became overwhelming we lost the strong connection we once had.

"How was school?" Mom asks.

"Good" I say but can't stop my voice from sounding sad.

"That doesn't sound too well", my Dad says.

"What happened?" Mom demands to know.

"Nothing, really. I actually made a new friend. Her name is Louise and she just moved here" I tell them.

"Are you sure everything is fine?" Mom asks, not paying any attention. I nod, searching desperately for something to get her off that topic.

"Do you know Cleo and Lewis McCartney?" I finally ask when I remember what I promised Louise. My words have an unexpected effect on my mother. She stares at me for a brief second, then laughs nervously and asks:

"What did you just say?"

"Cleo and Lewis McCartney, do you know them?" I repeat unsure. She looks at me and to my shock her blue eyes start to water.

"I once knew them" she says, struggling for a firm voice. "How do you know about them?"

"I…I just overheard someone saying they were back in town" I lie. I hate lying.

"Would you excuse me? I've lost my appetite" Mom says and leaves. I stare after her. If I would have known she'd take it that bad, I would never have asked her.

"I'll go and see if she's fine" Dad sighs. "Be so kind and drop that topic, okay? At least when you're talking to your mother. I'll explain it later"

I nod and give him a comforting smile. Inside I wonder what had happened that would make her react that way. And what would she say if she knew I was friends with the daughter of those people?


	4. Lockets

**Since it was weekend I had a lot of time to write. Probably I should have studied for the history test instead, but I just wasn't in the right mood. Actually I'm never in the right mood for doing my school work. Bad for my grades, good for my story.**

**Tuesday**

Louise's POV

I walk into the school to find Christina already waiting for me.  
"Hey" I say and walk over. She gives me a thoughtful look. Her blue eyes examine me carefully.

"I asked my parents about yours" she then says.

"Really? Do they know them?" I ask excited.

"Yes…" Christina seems down for some odd reason and I fight the urge to ask her what's wrong. We're not best friends yet, we barely know each other, so I guess it's none of my business, but being the curious girl I am I can't help it.

"Are you alright?" I ask her.

"I'm fine" she sighs. "My Mom just reacted so weird when I asked her about your family. I think she even started to cry"

"Really?" I can't imagine any reason why Mrs. Dove should react like that. Maybe she's just a little weird, but I won't tell Christina that that's my opinion.

"Yes! And she never cries! She's a strong woman, the strongest one I know" Christina says and punches the wall. It must have been really serious then.

"Do you want me to ask my parents about her?" I offer because I have no other idea to find out what's going on. But I'll definitely figure it out. Christina shrugs.

"I don't know. Maybe it isn't the best idea"

"Why not?" I ask her a little confused.

"If it upset my mother that much something horrible must have happened. Your parents probably don't want to be reminded of it too"

"Well whatever happened, it must have been important. But I don't want to upset them…" I say unsure. "Is there anybody else we could ask about it?"

"I'm not sure. If it happened a long time ago I have no idea who to ask. My parents barely have any childhood friends. My Dad didn't grow up around her and my mother travelled around the whole world for an entire year and left all of her old friends behind. When she came back they weren't the same. At least that's what she always says. So I don't know who from her earlier past could know about it"

"What about the mother of this girl… What's her name again?" I suggest. Christina raises an eyebrow.

"You mean Hope? No chance. I doubt that her mother will talk to me or any member of my family"

"Why not?"

"I don't know. She and Mom just won't get along" she answers and shrugs. I look at her and suddenly an idea grows in me.

"Do you think it'd be possible that she was one of your mother's childhood friends?" I ask. She stares at me with wide eyes as I continue, probably getting the same thoughts as me. "Or that maybe my parents were friends with her?"

"That's a possibility" she than admits. "If she was, my grandparents might know about it or even yours"

"Awesome!" I say excited. It can't be that hard to get something out of grandpa or Sam. Maybe even my aunt Kim might reveal something. "I'll ask them"

Christina nods.

"But don't be disappointed when our assumptions were wrong" she warns me.

"They are not wrong. It's the truth, I feel it"

"Whatever you say. Let's hope they'll spill"

"Somebody has to tell us something. I'll just ask everyone who knew them before they moved to the States. My entire family and maybe that old Lady I'm named after"

"You're named after some old Lady?" Christina says, obviously trying to change the subject, because even I can tell that's she's not really thrilled about spying on her parents past.

"Miss Chatham" I explain. "I don't know her, I don't even know if she's still alive, but she must have known my parents quite well if they decided to name me after her"

"Well, I guess we could find her" Christina says, then checks her watch. "Look, I got to go. I see you later, okay?" I nod and watch her walk away. I just hope I didn't pressure her too much. Loosing the first friend I made wouldn't be so nice. Maybe I should slow down a little, but this whole story is just so mysterious and thrilling!

Lorraine's POV

"Terry?" I just can't call him grandpa. That would be way too weird. He looks up from his machine, with that small sad smile on his lips he always seems to wear around me.

"Yes?"

"I've got this date on Saturday…" I start. He looks at me with a surprised look on his face.

"You've been here for not only a week and already have a date? Damn, you work fast. And you're way too pretty, looks like I got to protect you from all the boys, huh?"

"Well, the point is that I'm his company for a business meeting his family attends and I have nothing to wear"

"Business meeting? You're not spending your time with those snobs, do you? Your Mom made that mistake and it only broke her heart"

"Really?" I ask interested.

"Yeah, but let's not talk about it"

"Why not?"

"Because I failed as a father. Because I let her spend time with this Bennett guy. I don't doubt that his intentions with her were honorable and true, but people like them and people like us… That's a dangerous cocktail"

"Then you didn't fail. You just let her make her own experiences" I explain, basically mimicking some person from a cheesy soap opera. But soap operas make people happy, so why shouldn't it work on him?

"And it ended in the hospital. Anyway, you say you got nothing to wear?"

"That was the point, yes"

He scratches the back of his head.

"I don't really have any money I could give you. Maybe you should go through Rikki's clothes and then we'll decide, okay?"

"You have her clothes here?"

"She did barely take anything with her. That's why I thought she just wanted a little break and she'd come back soon… I'm afraid we'll never know" he sucks in breath. "Her stuff is in the closet over there"

"Cool"

I walk over and start to go through her clothes. They have their own smell, a familiar smell. A motherly smell. I bury my nose in them and breathe in deeply. Her clothes are cool, I have to admit her taste wasn't bad. A lot of red, black, blue… everything a little old-fashioned but it's from twenty years ago! I guess it's my size I could wear some of the ordinary stuff… Sadly there is only ordinary stuff in here, nothing I could use for this fancy dinner or party or whatever it's supposed to be. But there in the back of the closet… I reach for the box and open it. Bingo! A red dress, elegant, classic and perfect for that kind of event. Though it's not really in style anymore I'll still look good wearing it. I smile in satisfaction as I put it back, when something catches my eye. There's a small blue box hidden in the darkest corner of her closet. I look around to see if Terry is looking, then decide to take and open it. Inside there are three silver lockets. I take one out and open it. To my disappointment there is no picture inside. But they'll fit the dress perfectly because they look expensive and really old. I wonder why someone would keep three of their kind. One is enough, why do you need two more that look almost identical? The only difference is that one of them has a tiny red gem in it, the second a blue one and the third a white one. I think I'll take the first one, with the red gem; it goes best with the dress.

Catherine's POV

My mother and I decided to take a relaxing evening walk along the beach. I have to admit, it's really nice around here. I understand why my mother wanted to move here, why she said that this is the place where she gets her inspiration from. It's really idyllic; there are only a few people. An old couple is talking a walk, laughing like silly little kids, there are a few boys, laughing at them and sitting on a dune is a girl I recognize vaguely.

"She's in school with me" I tell my mother.

"Do you want to talk to her?"  
"Sure. Why not?" I say a little unsure as I walk over to her. "Hi. Laura, isn't it?" I greet her.

"Lorraine"

"Sorry. I'm new around here so I still got problems with the names" I smile at her sweetly.

"Me too, but I don't even bother trying to remember for example your name"

"It's Catherine"

"And you're wasting my time because…?"

"Just for fun, you know. That's my Mom, by the way" I say as she steps next to me. Lorraine gives her a nod.

"Sooo" I say, trying to make some conversation, "Are you…"

"Where did you get that locket from?" my mother cuts me off sharply and points at the necklace around Lorraine's neck. I stare at her confused and so does Lorraine.

"That one?" she finally asks.

"Yes! Of course that one! I've seen it before; there are only three of that kind in the world!"

"So it's expensive?"

"Yes. Would… would you like to sell it to me? I give you 200 $"

"What?" I yell, overly confused. My mother ignores me completely.

"250?" she asks.

"I'm not sure if I want to sell it" Lorraine says.

"Of course not. That's an important decision. Just sleep over it, okay? Here's my number, just call me whenever you made your choice!" Mom rants. "Please. It would mean a lot to me"

"Yeah, sure, I'll call you"

"Awesome. Come on Catherine let's go"

"Okay?" I'm still confused. My mother's not the type for spontaneous actions like that one. This necklace must mean something to her. She's dragging me along the beach pretty fast; her eyes are sparkling like a firework. I curse when I almost trip on the loose sand but she doesn't seem to notice.

"Wait!" we hear someone yell. "About the other two lockets, would you take one of them instead?" Lorraine asks as she approaches us. My mother stops dead in her tracks.

"The one with the blue stone? Could you get it for me? I'll give you 300$ for that one"

"Are you sure it's worth all the money?" the dark- haired girl asks.

"To me it is. Maybe it's not because of the material it's made of but I connect a really special story with it"

"A story? What kind of story?" Lorraine asks. My mother shifts uncomfortably.

"It belonged to my grandmother" she eventually says, "It was a symbol for friendship and a secret that she and her friends were hiding. Later the lockets went over two three girls. They were sharing the same secret, the same friendship but I never thought it was right that they inherited what belonged to me"

"Was one of these girls Rikki?" Lorraine asks and I think her voice is actually trembling.

"Yes. Rikki. We never really got along" Mom laughs bitterly. "Did she give the lockets to you?"

"In a way, yes. So when do we meet?"

"Could you give it to Catherine, tomorrow at school?"

"As long as I get my money, I will"


	5. Miss Chatham

**Wednesday**

Louise's POV

"Are you sure that's the right place?" I ask for the one-hundredth time in this minute.

"Of course I am!" Christina rolls her eyes. We're walking down the corridors of the retirement home. "Louise Chadwick, Age 87. That's her, isn't it?"

"I guess so" I answer. Christina stops in front of a door.

"Ready?"

"As ready as can be" I answer as she lifts her hand to knock.

"Come in!" we hear a voice. I bite my lip nervously and open the door. By the window there's an old woman sitting in a huge chair. She's dressed all in blue, smiling at us friendly but a little confused. "How can I help you?"

"Are you Miss Chatham?" I ask shyly.

"Yes, that would be me"

"Oh, good. I'm Louise McCartney and that's my friend Christina Dove"

"Louise and Christina. You remind me of someone I once knew, but I can't remember! I just can't. McCartney, McCartney, where have I heard that before?"

"You knew my parents. They named me after you"

"Really? Well, that's something I should remember"

"I don't think you know about it. I was born in the USA"

"I can't recall knowing any Americans"

"My parents were born here. Cleo and Lewis" As I say the name the face of Miss Chatham lightens up. She stretches her arms out widely and says:

"I didn't know they were married now! Come on; let me have a look at you. You're a pretty girl my dear!"

"Thank you" I say. She's really nice. Suddenly she turns serious.

"You are not like your mother, are you?"

"I don't know what you mean exactly" I say carefully.

"Hand me a glass of water please" she says. I grab the glass that's standing on the table and pour her some water. When I hand it to her, her hand trembles, causing a few drops to land on my skin. "No, you are not like her" she mumbles and sets the glass down without taking a single sip. She then turns to Christina. "And who are you my dear? You look slightly like Emma, don't you?"

"Well, my mother's name actually is Emma. I don't know if she's the Emma you're talking about but it might be possible"

" Emma Gilbert. She let me stay at her place when I had nowhere to go. Her mother, Lisa is a really lovely person. They took good care of me"

"Lisa's my grandmother"

"Say her my greetings when you see her. Anyway, what brings you here?"

"We have questions" I say.

"Questions? About what? The sea and its miracles? I can only advise you to beware of sharks. There are a lot around Mako Island"

"Actually questions about our parents. Christina and I just met a few days ago but we already know that our parents knew each other. Something must have happened between them" I explain.

"Something huge" Christina adds. "When I asked about Louise's parents my Mom started to cry"

"Oh" Miss Chatham says. There is hurt visible in her face and when she keeps talking you can hear the sadness in her voice. "They are not friends anymore, I guess?"

"Friends?" Christina asks. "From the impression I got they are anything but that"

"Believe me they were. History is repeating itself. When I was your age I had two close friends. We shared a secret, had our own very special world. It was a lovely time and we thought it'd stay that way forever. Julia, Gracie and I were a unity. But then, when we got older, we fought. We were just too different. At some point everything that once linked us was gone and we walked out of each others lives. We started our own families, grew old and never reunited. Then, 20 years ago, there were three other girls living here. They shared the same secret, the same friendship even a lot of our character traits! The secret was a burden, you know and I did my very best to help them carrying it. I'm sure they had a magnificent time and I just know that they are still remembering it. But from everything I've heard from you those times our gone. It must have started when Emma left. I don't know what happened after this but I guess they gave up on it. Oh they were nice girls, Cleo, Emma and Rikki!"

Rikki? I don't know any Rikkis, but I think I heard that name somewhere.

"Is she the girl from the café?" Christina asks.

"Café? Not that I know, but maybe she is, yes. It's been I long time since I got out of here! A long and really lonely time"

"Don't you have any family members to visit you?" I ask her.

"No one"

"Oh" I can't imagine what it would feel like being all alone the whole time. It must be horrible!

"We could come and visit you" Christina offers. "We could take you to the beach if you want to"

"The beach?" Miss Chatham starts to breath heavy. "You would really do that?"

"Of course. What about tomorrow?" Christina asks.

"That would be wonderful! I miss the sea so badly, but I can't walk out there on my own since I had a surgery on my left knee. I'm really getting old"

"But your still looking good" I compliment Miss Chatham. She obviously did her hair really careful and that secretive expression on her face mixed with the fine blue fabric of her clothes makes her look like an ancient goddess of the sea or a mythical mermaid.

"Thank you dear, but you don't have to lie to an old woman like my. My beauty is long gone" she smiles but than frowns. "I wish you could experience what I experienced… keeping the secret was the most difficult time of my life but it also was just so beautiful!"

There. She talked about that secret again. I gather all my courage and ask:

"What kind of secret?" She laughs at me.

"It wouldn't be a secret if I just told you, would it? Come closer" I look at Christina who just shrugs her shoulders and then take a step forward. Miss chat ham waves for me to bent down then she whispers into my ear.

"It all comes down to Mako Island. You have to be there, right place, right time"

**Thursday**

Christina's POV

"Okay everyone! For this year there is a very special interdisciplinary project planned!" the teacher announces. "All of you guys will work in a group of five people, doing different tasks in subjects such as chemistry, geography and biology"

My boyfriend immediately yells:

"I'm with Christina!" I sigh. I don't exactly want him to be in my group. He's not really a genius and I want to do this project pretty well. This grade could be important for my entire future life! But he's my boyfriend so I guess I can't actually turn him down.

"No you are not" the teacher says. "I get to choose the groups"

Everyone starts to complain and I join in only half- hearted because I'm not really that sad. If I'm lucky she has chosen someone I can work with well.

"The first part of your work includes doing some chemical experiments, here in class. They are preparation for the second part of your work, the real project. This second part is the more important one; you will continue your work all by yourself and choose some place in the area around. You will take soil samples or samples from the water, depends if it is on dry ground or a part of the ocean. You will also observe the climate and investigate the species you find there. Remember, it can be any place in the area, your garden or the marine park, I don't care. If you take a built- up area it will be a bit difficult to take soil samples, so I advise you not to. In the past years most students choose the marine park because it is easy to find out something about the species. But if you want to get an extraordinary grade I expect you to take a place which is not really touched by humans"

This sounds like hard work. But I'm sure it will be interesting. I sit up straight as the teacher tells us that she is going to announce the groups. Please, please choose someone who is not really lazy! Not Hope! Not Hope! That's all I wish for.

"Cody Barber" the teacher says. No reaction. I look at the place next to me and see that my boyfriend obviously dozed off. Sometimes he's just stupid. I guess that's why both of my parents can't stand him.

"Cody!" I nudge him.

"Huh? Babe, what's wrong?" he shoots up. Before I can answer the teacher is already standing in front of us.

"You were sleeping in my class, which is what is wrong! I already feel sorry for the people I paired you up with", she answers the question for me.

Cody blinks a few times.

"Chill. You're just pissed because you don't have a boyfriend and won't ever get one" he then says. My teacher gasps as the class starts to laugh.

"He is so sorry! He didn't mean it like that" I immediately apologize for him. I don't want him to get into trouble. Well, it's already too late for that. My teacher only looks at me.

"Yes he did. Christina, you are such a smart girl, I just do not understand why you would waste your time with him and his friends. That is one of the reasons why I decided not to pair you two up. Instead you will work with Hope Benjamin"

"Oh, please not!" I protest. Why does wishful thinking always work the wrong way? "We won't get along too well"

"I know you guys have your difficulties but I think that this project work is a great way to overcome them. You have a good influence on most people, so I hope you can encourage her to pay a little more attention in class. I paired you up with Lorraine Chadwick for the same reason. She seems not to care about school, so I hope you can bring her to the conclusion that work can be fun"

"I doubt that" the girl scoffs. I give her a desperate smile. If we have to work together I should at least try to be nice. She ignores me.

"Great" I mumble to myself. My teacher smiles at me.

"Don't worry Christina. You are also partners with Louise McCartney and I expect big things from her. Her father is a famous marine biologist and professor at a very renowned university" I look at Louise who is blushing furiously and looks like she wishes to be anywhere but here. "And you will work together with Catherine Watsford. She's a really disciplined person and I think you will get along just fine"


	6. Working together

**Friday**

Hope's POV

When I walk over the schoolyard I see Catherine, Christina and Louise already waiting for me. Christina furrows her eyebrows as I approach them.

"Where is Lorraine?" she scoffs.

"How am I supposed to know?" I ask utterly confused.

"Aren't you guys friends?"

"I guess so. But that doesn't mean I watch her every move. I'm not a control-freak or something"

Christina gasps.

"Did you just call me a control-freak?"

"What? No!" I say quickly. "Well, maybe I did but I didn't mean it that way" I try to explain. "I just think that people should have some freedom, right?"

"Of course" Christina says coldly and turns away. I bite my lip. I had hoped we could leave our past problems behind, but obviously it won't work that way. Christina is pissed and Catherine and Louise just stand there in silence.

"Sooo" Catherine then says, trying to get rid of this awkward situation "Are you guys interested in science?"

"I guess" Louise answers.

"Cool" End of conversation.

"Okay!" I finally yell. Everybody stares at me. "This is just stupid. Can't we at least pretend to get along? Goodness, there are so many negative vibrations in the air! I absolutely hate that!" That's true. Disharmony makes me sick. Maybe my family is just too perfect so I'm unable to deal with this kind of situation.

"That would be nice, I guess" Louise admits shyly, giving Christina an apologizing look.

"Nice" Christina says, her voice dripping from sarcasm.

"Oh come on!" Catherine complains. "We are a team and to achieve a good grade we need to work together. It's not only a good idea. It's necessary"

"Fine. But I can't guarantee what I am going to do if Lorraine won't show up in the next few minutes"

"What about me?" we hear a voice.

"You're late!"

"Oh. Yes" Rainy answers. "So what's the plan?"

"Oh. Yes" Christina mimics her. "Aren't you going to apologize?"

"What for?"

"Just… Forget it. Let's go, okay?"

"Whoa! That's what I call a house" Rainy says as we arrive at Louise's place. We decided to plan our project at her house because her father could give us some ideas or at least that's what we hope. I look up at the three- stories building.

"It's quite a mansion" I mumble impressed. Catherine shrugs.

"You should see our house. It's even bigger"

"You guys may be rich but we're way cooler, right Hope?" Rainy asks. I grin at her.

"Totally" To my surprise she smiles back. I wouldn't have thought we could become friends that quickly. But that's a good sign.

"Shouldn't we like go in?" Christina asks.

"Oh. Yes" Louise stumbles and opens the door. "Mom! Dad! We're here!"

"Oh. Hey" A blond man appears in the hallway eating a round of pepperoni. "Your mother is making pizza" he informs Louise.

"Oh cool. Dad, meet my friends. That's Christina" Louise introduces her friend.

"Nice to meet you Mr. McCartney" Christina says warmly. He stares at her outstretched hand and then at his own greasy fingers. Quickly, he cleans them at his pants.

"Nice to meet you, Christina"

"And that's Hope"

"Hi Mr. McCartney" I say and smile at him a bit.

"Uhm, hi"

"This one here is Catherine"

"Hello Catherine" he says, but she just stares at him. "Are you okay?" he asks concerned.

"Yes! Yes of course I am. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm honored. I heard that you're a marine biologist, that's pretty awesome" she rants.

"Yes. I guess it's … cool" Mr. McCartney answers and smiles. "And who are you?" he then asks Rainy.

"Lorraine"

He gives her a quick nod and is just about to turn away, when something catches his eye.

"This locket, where did you get it?" he asks, pointing at Rainy's silver necklace. She rolls her eyes.

"What's with everyone and those necklaces? First her mother", she points at Catherine, "Now you… I don't get it"

"Just stay here, okay?" he orders as he dashes off into the kitchen. "Cleo!" he calls, "Cleo!"

"Your Dad is funny!" Catherine says to Louise. Louise laughs embarrassed.

"He can be weird, but he's really nice"

"No, I was serious. He's funny" Catherine says with sparkling eyes. If it wouldn't be a bit strange I'd say she just developed a crush on the older man.

"Cleo, you have to see this!" he says and drags his wife outside. Now I see were Louise got her stunning looks from. Mr. McCartney grabs Rainy's locket.

"Hey!" she protests, but he ignores it. This whole situation is slightly confusing to me.

"That… that…" Louise's mother murmurs but isn't able to finish her sentence.

"Exactly what I was talking about" her husband says. "Where did you get it, Lorraine?"

"I inherited them, okay?"

"Them?" Mrs. McCartney says, "But we gave them to Rikki!" Suddenly she gets pale. "She… she didn't die, did she?"

"No! No, Cleo, don't even think about that possibility" Louise's father tries to calm her down, but she ignores him completely and looks at Rainy with tears in her eyes.

"Is she dead?"

"No" Lorraine says coldly. "But I wouldn't consider her alive either. She's been in a coma for the last 16 years and there's little chance she'll ever wake up"

"Oh Lord. Do you know her? Are you related to her?"

"Know her? No" Lorraine laughs without any humor in her voice "Am I related to her? Yes. She's my mother"

I stare at her in shock. So that's the reason why she's so rude sometimes. If my mother was in that situation… I can't even imagine it. Only the thought makes me tear up.

"I am so incredibly sorry" I say and go to hug her. Se doesn't pull away, but mumbles:

"Don't be"

Mr. McCartney clears his throat.

"That's horrible news" he shakes his head in disbelief. His wife is sobbing.

"I never got to apologize!", she cries. He strokes her hand softly.

"You couldn't know that something like this would happen. So Lorraine, you are Rikki's daughter?"

"Yes"

"Wow. Rikki being a mom…" he smiles at the thought and shakes his head. "So she gave the lockets to you before she… What happened exactly?"

"Car crash. And no, she didn't give the lockets to me. May I remind you that I was a baby back then?"

"Right" he scratches the back of his head. "So how did you get them?"

"My grandfather. I just moved here, I didn't know that I had any relatives. I grew up in an orphanage all the way across the country. What's so important about these lockets? Catherine's mom paid 300$ for the one with the blue stone and told some weird cheesy story about it belonging to her grandmother or something"

I see Mrs. McCartney's eyes widen.

"Charlotte" she says in a low and hateful voice. "Charlotte. I should go and check on my pizza" she then adds quickly and leaves the hallway. Her husband follows her and I stare after them. The whole day just got a lot more interesting.

Christina's POV

I look around Louise's room.

"Nice" Catherine says in a fake perky voice. "Let's get started with the project?"

Hope gasps.

"Oh no! You can't just pretend that what happened there is less important than that stupid project. The project can wait but this…" her voice trails off as she looks at us. Normally I would turn her down and criticize the fact that she is obviously not interested in doing her work, but what just happened was a lot more interesting than science, I have to give her that.

"Yeah, that was really weird, wasn't it?" Lorraine grins. "I'm starting to get a little curious what this thing with the lockets is all about"

"Me too" I admit. "Let's see if we can put the pieces together, okay? Brainstorming everyone! What are the facts we know? Mrs. McCartney needs to apologize to Rikki. They were friends and shared a secret"

"How do you know?"

"Some old Lady that knew them told us. My mother was friends with them, too"

"And they had a secret? What kind of secret?" Hope asks curious.

"We don't know" Louise answers. "But I think we'll find out"

"What about my mother?" Catherine asks. "Mr. McCartney was her ex-boyfriend and she knew what the locket's meant. They belonged to my grandmother and her friends who gave them to three girls"

"Our mothers" I complete her thoughts

"I wonder what happened that made them drift apart" Louise asks. Lorraine shrugs.

"Your parents moved, my mother had a car crash… Life got in their way"

"I bet there's more than that. I feel it" Hope says. "Do you think my mother could have something to do with it, too? Christina's mom and she don't get along, they literally hate each other. Something must have happened in their past. Oh, and my mother used to sing at the Rikki's, it belonged to your mom Lorraine, didn't it?"

"I guess so"

"Means we have another figure in the game" I conclude. "Zane Bennett"

"I'll take care of him, don't worry. He'll spill" Lorraine smirks. I roll my eyes. Her self-confidence is bothering me.

"Do you even know him?" I ask her.

"Nope. But don't worry, I'll get some information out of him"

"Perfect" I grab a sheet of paper and write _Zane Bennett: Lorraine._ "Do you think your grandfather knows anything about the whole story?"

"I can find out"

I nod and write down._ Mr. Chadwick: Lorraine. _Then I add my parent's and grandparent's names on the list and write my name behind it.

"Hope, you interrogate your parents" I then order. "Louise, you do the same thing with your entire family and Catherine takes care of her mother"

"No problem" Catherine answers. "My mom will tell me anyway. Since we moved here she got no other topic than her youth and Mako Island" The name makes me listen.

"Mako Island… that would be the perfect place for our project!"

They stare at me as if I have gone crazy.

"You know that we had a total different topic, right?" Lorraine asks.

"Not really" Louise comes to my rescue. "Miss Chadwick, you know that old Lady who was friends with them answered when I asked her about the secret: _It all comes down to Mako Island. You have to be there, right place, right time_"


	7. Time to get some information

**Saturday**

Lorraine's POV

"Do I look okay?" I ask a little nervous. I did everything to look like the girl Marc's parents expect. I even pinned up my hair. I was planning on combing it and letting it loose but then I noticed that it was cut uneven. At the orphanage the older kids used to cut it for the younger ones and as I was one of the oldest someone younger had to do it. I had never really cared about my appearance before but now it suddenly became a lot more important. Marc gives me a look.

"Of course"

I nod and heave a sigh of relief. I don't want to make a bad impression because that could ruin my chances of talking to Mr. Bennett. I can't believe I'll waste my time at some fancy party, together with all of these snobs.

"Anything I should know?" I ask. Marc raises an eyebrow. It's his very special What-are-you-talking-about-expression. "You know, manners" I explain quickly.

"Just be… nice. If that's possible for you. Don't open your mouth too often and if you do, make nice compliments about Miriam's dress"

"Sounds like fun" I mumble sarcastically. He chuckles and grabs my hand to drag me towards the door of the huge mansion. It's even bigger than the McCartney's place. As we step inside I'm greeted by someone who offers me a tablet with champagne on it. I look at Marc questioning and as he takes a glass I do too. I take a sip and look around. Marc bents down to my ear. I never noticed he was that tall.

"Let me introduce you to my parents. Remember, you are my girlfriend"

"Couldn't forget that" I answer. He gives me a nod and we walk towards a middle-aged man who looks as if he is bored out of his mind and a woman who examines every woman's dress with jealousy written all over her face. Poor boy to have parents like that. Before we reach them a blond woman in a pink dress approaches them. Immediately the expressions of the man and the woman change and they look as if they are having the time of her life. They shake the other woman's hand and smile at her so widely that I bet the corners of their mouth are hurting.

"Thanks for the invitation Mrs. Bennett" I hear Marc's mother say as we step next to them. "We are so glad to be here"

"You are enjoying yourselves then?" Blondie asks.

"Of course, it's perfect. Your choice of decoration is wonderful, as always"

"I know. There's not really a lot that can go wrong with pink, right?" she answers and smiles flattered. I'm just about to open my mouth when I remember what Marc said about manners. So it's probably not the smartest decision to tell her that there is a lot that can wrong with pink, for example that her pink dress makes her look like a pig wearing a wig.

"That must be your son! Oh, we met before, didn't we" she squeals.

"Yes that's Marc and his girlfriend Lorraine"

"Marc" she gives him a fake smile. Or maybe it's not fake but supposed to be seducing. She should practice her expressions in front of a mirror. "I saw you at my midsummer's Party, right? And at the dinner last month. But you, Laura… What did you say your last name was?"

"Chadwick. Lorraine Chadwick" I say as sweetly as possible. I smirk in satisfaction as the smile falls from her face. Chadwick is obviously a name she knows pretty well.

"You are not related to Rikki Chadwick, are you? No, you are not. What would someone like Marc see in a girl of that kind!" she laughs high-pitched and I feel the overwhelming urge to break her little nose. But that wouldn't be any use because I'm sure she'd just take advantage of the services of plastical surgery. I give her a meaningless smile. She nods as a man stops next to her.

"Zane!" she squeals. "We were just talking about the decoration!"

"Nice" he says, "But this is a business party, you know that right?" he turns to talk to Marc's father. "Mr. Arnold, it's good to see you. And you brought your wife and your son with his lovely company!" He turns to look at me and gasps for air. "Rikki?" he whispers with his eyes wide open.

"Sorry, but no" I shrug my shoulders. "I'm Lorraine" He gulps.

"Of course. Lorraine. I just saw your dress and that necklace…"

"You've seen it before?" I ask innocently.

"Yes, yes I bought a dress like this for my ex-girlfriend, but that was quite a long time ago. And the necklace was a special one she kept wearing" he shakes his head. "How is it possible that you have the exact same stuff she had?" His wife tips on his shoulder.

"Well, her name is Chadwick" she tells him, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Ch- Chadwick?" he stutters, then suddenly grabs me by the shoulders and starts to shake me. "Do you know where she is?" he yells into my face.

"You're crazy!" I yell back. He's not scaring me or something but honestly pissing me off. He just can't shake people randomly. "And yes, I do know where she is. She's in hospital, has been in a coma for the last 16 years" His eyes widen and he lets go abruptly.

"You're lying"

"No. I'm not lying" Mr. Bennett stares at me for a second, then turns away.

"I… I have to take care of my guests. Excuse me, Mr. Arnold, Mrs. Arnold" he mumbles as he walks away.

"What? No! I have some questions to ask you!" I follow him. He looks at me.

"Rikki and me, that's a completed chapter of my life. Talking about her would bring back memories and so does seeing you. I assume you better leave and don't ever get into my sight again"

"Are you kicking me out?" I ask him. I'm furious, burning on the inside. I came here to get information and instead he just throws me out as soon as I arrive.

"You heard him sweetie" I hear Mrs. Bennett's voice behind me. She doesn't even try to hide the satisfaction in her voice. "May I show you the door?"

"No" I answer and give her a cold look. I open my hand and the glass I was holding falls down, causing the champagne to spill all over her expensive shoes. "Oops. My bad" I smile. "Do you think it leaves stains?" I ask her. She looks shocked, and then starts panicking.

"Zane? Does champagne leave stains?" she asks with a shaking voice.

"I couldn't care less about that" he answers.

"Excuse me? That's important to me! You don't care about me at all! You are supposed to love me"

"I told you, I will never love you!"

I grin as I leave the house, hearing the couple fight in front of all their guests. They might hate me now, but I couldn't care less. Zane Bennett is nobody I would care about, I guess.

**Sunday**

Catherine's POV

Time to get some information. I take a deep breath and walk into the living- room. My mother is sitting on the couch, reading some magazines.

"Mom?" I ask.

"Yes?"

"Would you like to take a walk? Just enjoy some mother-daughter-time?"

"Sure" she says surprised. "Where should we go?"

"Oh, you know, just explore the countryside. What about Mako Island? We thought we could do our science project over there…" She raises an eyebrow.

"Haven't I told you?" she asks confused. "I used to spend a lot of time over there"

"Really?" I ask, playing innocent as I sit down next to her. "It looks so wild and dangerous"

"Yes. I thought so at first too. I once spent a night there, on a camping trip. It was really creepy"

"You went camping? All by yourself?" I ask her. That doesn't sound like her.

"No, not by myself. I went there with my boyfriend" Yes! She mentioned Mr. McCartney. We're getting closer!

"Your boyfriend? The one in the picture?"

"Yes. Lewis"

"It was a date then?" I ask her in order to keep her talking. She sighs.

"No… He accompanied his friend's family"

"Aww, he sounds like such a sweet guy!"

"I didn't really think that leaving your girlfriend behind every time your ex-girlfriend calls is exactly sweet… But don't judge him, he had his reasons"

"What could be more important to him than his girlfriend?" I wonder.

"He was sharing a secret with the girls, a secret they had to keep. I was kind of an outsider"

Yes! The mysterious secret, here it is again. I hadn't pictured this so easy…

"And did you find out about it?" I ask her innocently.

"Yes, yes I did. I became part of it, became part of their secret, something I had dreamed of for a long time. Just to realize they hadn't wanted me in their group from the very beginning"

"Oh" I say and I don't even have to fake the concern in my voice. Mom looks really sad.

"So they shut you out? From what exactly?" She looks at me weirdly and for a second I'm frightened I scared her off with that question and she won't tell me anything anymore.

"Why the sudden interest?" she asks.

"Just being curious. We'll be doing a project on Mako Island and I'm just interested in the place and your relationship towards it"

"Cathy, let me give you some advice. Keep them away from there. You won't want to share what you find their. I shared it with the three girls and if it wasn't for them I would never have lost it"

I nod automatically. She looks so serious and sad; I just have to believe her. I won't tell the others anything about the things I'll find out. This is my business and my business alone.

"You promise?" my mother asks.

"Sure"

"Then let me tell you something. It's all about… mermaids"

I have to fight my disappointment. Either she just doesn't want me to know or she has gone crazy. I grab her hand and squeeze it lightly, then get up and walk upstairs into my room. If she won't tell me, I'll find it out by myself. I grab my phone and dial Louise's number.

"I didn't find out anything…"

**Monday**

Christina's POV

"Christina! What a surprise!" my grandmother says as she opens the door.

"Hey grandma" I give her a hug.

"Aww, you have grown so much since I saw you for the last time! It's been quite a while"

"Yes, I'm sorry for not visiting" I say feeling guilty. "Mom and Dad are just so busy". I keep it a secret that they are fighting constantly and that we didn't come to visit because it would have been obvious that something was going wrong in their marriage. My grandmother nods in understanding.

"Come in my dear. I mad yoghurt, do you want some?" she asks. I nod happily as I follow her into the kitchen. Her famous self-made yoghurt is awesome.

"So what brings you here?"

"My mother's birthday" I say and flinch at the obvious lie in my voice. I hate lying. I'm just not good at it. "I thought I could organize a party, invite all of her friends…"

"Isn't that a bit early? Her birthday is in two months"

"Yes, but good preparation is the key for a good party. So I better start earlier than late…"

"You are just like Emma. I remember when she threw a party for her dad. She had everything planned and then she just went crazy"

"Crazy?" I ask confused.

"Yes. Insulted the guests and disappeared for the whole night… It was quite weird"

"Oh. Well, anyways, I thought it would be fun to have some kind of a class reunion. To invite the friends she left behind when you guys went on your trip around the world"

"That's a sweet idea. I never really understood why she and her friends stopped talking, but I think that she felt as if Rikki and Cleo replaced her with this Bella-girl"

"Really?" I ask interested "Rikki and Cleo were her friends?"

"Her best friends" my grandmother sighs. "Sometimes I almost felt as if she replaced us, her family with them. They were so tight, like sisters! They even had matching lockets"

"Lockets?" This is getting really interesting.

"They never took them off. And when Emma left, her locket was the most important thing to her. But Rikki and Cleo switched theirs for some blue crystal"

"Wow, that was mean" I say and in my thoughts I note: _blue crystal. _"Why would they do this?"

"This girl I talked about, Bella, had one of those, too. I guess it was too symbolize their friendship. Your mother was crushed. She stopped talking to Cleo and Rikki. But I guess they had a huge fight or something and one day her locket was gone"

She gave it to Rikki I complete the reconstruction of the events.

"So maybe I shouldn't invite them, huh?" I ask when I remember what I told my grandmother about the party.

"No, probably not. Sorry, if I couldn't help you sweetie"

"Oh you helped me a lot more than you know"


	8. What happened to us?

**So, this chapter is a little different from the others. There will be a few chapters like this one and most of the time they will be flashbacks, but this one is still set in the present time. I hope you like it! I sometimes feel like my story gets a little boring, so please tell me what you think about it and how I could improve it. I'm always open for your ideas.**

**Tuesday**

**with Charlotte  
**

„_No"_

_Charlotte__ whispers. She stares into the grotto with wide eyes. _

"_What happened in here?" _

_She touches a few boulders. Tears are forming in her eyes. All her life she had held on to the thought about coming back here and now nothing is the way she expected it to be. Her dreams are shattered. Someone destroyed the grotto. Charlotte clenches her fists. If the girls wouldn't have taken her powers away none of this would have happened. She would have been able to protect Mako Island. It was their mistake, their fault alone. They should have lost their powers that night in the moon pool, not her. Now the magic is gone. Charlotte can feel it. Somehow she had always been linked to the grotto, even after she lost her powers. There is no chance that there will be any new mermaids. Or is there?_

_Charlotte sighs and turns around to leave. If she isn't home when her daughter returns from school she might get suspicious. She didn't believe her when she told her about mermaids. Now it didn't matter anymore anyway. Catherine would never get to experience what it is like to be no ordinary girl__._

**with Cleo & Lewis**_  
_

_Cleo giggles. _

"_Lewis, that's so sweet"_

_She looks around. Lewis set up a picnic at his favorite fishing place._

"_I thought we could pretend we were teenagers again. We hadn't some alone-time for quite a while. Tonight we are just going to enjoy ourselves. Louise and Tony are at your father's place, which means we can spend time without having to worry for them" _

_He says excited._

"_Sounds good" _

_Cleo says and sits down next to him. _

"_But there are still tons of things on my mind. I have to think about Rikki all the time. And Charlotte. And I wonder what happened to Bella and Emma" _

"_Me too. I can't believe Rikki has a daughter"_

"_Do you think Zane is her father?"_

"_Probably. Poor girl. But Zane has gotten somewhere in his life. I would have never thought he had it in him"_

"_Me neither. Maybe Lorraine and Louise will become friends like Rikki and me."_

"_I don't think so. If Lorraine is like Rikki and Zane it might need magic to make them become friends"_

"_But there is no magic in the world"_

_Cleo sighs._

"_Not even I have my powers anymore. I miss it, you know?" _

"_I can imagine. I'm sure the others miss it too"_

"_It was our decision to give up on it. I just wonder if it was possible to gain them back"_

**with Bella**_  
_

_Bella sighs as she opens the door to look into the grinning face of her visitor._

"_The band is hired" _

_Nate announces._

"_Nobody can hire a band that broke up 17 years ago"_

"_Come on Bella, just one gig"_

_He begs._

"_You know you want to"_

"_No Nate. The band is history"_

"_Bella. You promised you'd rejoi__n when your daughter is old enough. She must be almost 17 now"_

"_Yes, her birthday is this__ weekend, but may I remind you that I also have a two-year-old daughter?"_

"_Who cares? Look, Bella we all know you can't resist my charm and you only married that dumb husband of yours because he got you pregnant first"_

_Bella rolls her eyes. Nate will never get that she just wasn't interested in him and never will be_

"_I love Will"_

"_Anyway, you are back in the band"_

"_Nate…"_

"_No need to thank me. I'll see you at practice tomorrow"_

_He gives her his typical smirk and walks off._

"_See you babe!" _

_He yells._

_Bella sighs and turns around to find her daughter Angel behind her trying to fight her amusement._

"_Have fun Mom"_

"_I for sure will"_

_Bella mumbles sarcastic, but then grins when she remembers her teenage years and all the gigs at the Rikki's. Gosh, how she wishes she could see all of her friends again. Life had been perfect back then. Now it's not bad either but she still feels like there is a part of her missing. _

**with Emma**_  
_

_Emma buries her head in her pillows. It's already wet from all the tears she cried. What happened to her and Ash? They used to be so perfect, so happy. And now all of it is gone. Maybe he's right; maybe she really needs a break. But the work needs to be done. Sometimes she fears she and Ash might have to get a divorce. But that can't happen. A perfect and happy family was everything she ever wished for. Besides it would be horrible for Christina. Emma wishes she could make it easier for her daughter. How would she feel about her parents getting divorced? Devastated? Relieved because she wouldn't have to listen to them fighting 24/7? Emma doesn't know. She and her daughter drifted apart. As she realizes that the tears start to stream even faster. She let them all down. She's an awful mother and a bad wife. Oh, how she wishes she would at least have some friends by her side that would help her through this._

**with Rikki**_  
_

_Rikki tries to open her eyes and panics as she realizes she is too weak. She wants to scream for help, wants to make someone notice that she's here. Her throat is too dry. She needs water, something to drink, but she's caught in darkness and can't call for help. What happened? She was in the car, arguing with herself. Her daughter was in the backseat. Her phone rang and when she reached for it she lost control over the car. Did she have an accident? What happened to her daughter, is she okay? She needs to know. She hears voices._

"_Doctor, how is that possible?"_

_Someone asks. _

"_I don't know. It's a miracle"_

"_Can she hear us?"_

"_Probably. But most of her muscles are stunted. It will take some time until she will be able to live a normal life again"_

_What are they talking about? Is she injured that bad? Nothing hurts. _

"_Miss Chadwick? Can you hear us?"_

_The doctor ask._

"_Just try to open your eyes if you can"_

_What a stupid question. Why shouldn't she be able to open her eyes? She tries and to her surprise it's really hard. Then they flatter open. The bright light makes her groan._

"_Get her a glass of water" _

_Someone orders. Rikki wants to move her head to look at the person, but it doesn't work. A face appears over her._

"_Welcome back to the world of living"_

_The doctor says._


	9. Fighting

**Wednesday**

Catherine's POV

Hope nudges me and almost causes me to spill acid all over my hand.

"Hope! That was dangerous!" I say angrily.

"Sorry. I just wanted to see if it changed its color"

"I haven't mixed the chemicals yet!" I sigh. Chemistry is a pain when you have to work with Hope. Christina gives me a pitiful look. Lucky girl got to work with Louise. We have to do some experiments in preparation for our project. Thankfully Lorraine isn't here today; I bet she wouldn't have done anything. By the way, where is she?

"Hope? Do you know where Lorraine is?"

"Haven't I told you?" she asks. "Louise, Christina, have I told you?"

"No and you better keep your mouth shut if you don't want the teacher to get angry on us" Christina answers annoyed.

"But it's important!" Hope protests. "Her mother woke up!"

"Really?" Louise asks. "That's great! Why haven't you told us earlier?"

"I guess I forgot"

"How can you forget something like this?" Louise asks confused.

"Because the only reason why Hope has a head is so it won't rain into her neck" Christina answers. Hope gasps.

"You're mean! And I was almost going to invite you to my birthday party on Saturday…" She shakes her head as if she can't believe she really had that idea.

"Saturday?" Christina asks. "You can't have a birthday party this weekend. We have to get started with our project!"

"You can't forbid me to celebrate my birthday!"

"What's more important, your birthday or our future life?"

"Did you ever think about the possibility that good grades are no guarantee for a perfect future? What about family and being happy? Your family must be pretty messed up"

"You don't know anything about my family!" Christina answers, her cheeks flushing red.

"Well, your family is obviously not as perfect as you want it to be, am I right?"

"But yours is, huh?"

"Pretty much. Maybe we just have different values than you guys. We care about happiness, security and love while your parents obviously only think about their money, their work and don't spend a single thought on your welfare"

"You… you… I hate you!" Christina yells and storms out of the classroom, leaving a speechless Louise and a guilty-feeling Hope.

"Oh, I didn't mean to say that!" Hope whines and starts to tear up. "I hate it to make people sad!" I look at her in disbelief. I never saw a girl who starts to cry because she made someone sad. Hope really is a miracle.

"She hates me!" she cries. "I have to go and apologize!"

"No, you stay" Louise orders. "Let her calm down"

"Yo, Hope!" Cody, Christina's boyfriend calls from the other side of the room. "Thanks!"

"What?" Hope asks confused.

"You made her cry! Now I get to comfort her and be all loving. Girls love that don't they?"

I shake my head at him. He's such a fail at life. But I have to admit he's kinda hot. If he wasn't Christina's boyfriend I'd totally go after him. When I think about it… I could go after him. It wouldn't be my fault if he would choose me over Christina, right? But I guess I wouldn't have a chance anyway. I don't have her looks and that's all those boys care for. She's just a lot prettier than me with her sleek blond hair that shines in the sun and flows over her shoulders like a waterfall. I secretly look at the others. Even Hope is better-looking than me. She is perfectly tanned and her blond hair falls in waves all the way down to her butt. I've never seen a girl with such long hair. Her green eyes look mysterious but friendly at the same time, even now when they are filled with tears and guilt. And Louise… she is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Her hair is dark and soft and looks like liquid silk, her skin always smells like roses and she's as delicate as a porcelain figure. If I was a guy I would totally fall for her.

I sigh and examine myself. My stupid reddish brown hair is always braided and I'm a little chubby. Maybe I should go on a diet…

"Catherine? Are you listening to me?" I hear a voice.

"Huh?" I ask and find Louise looking at me. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"I asked you what you think about camping on Mako Island?" she repeats her question.

I stare at her. She can't be serious.

"It's jungle!" I protest.

"For my birthday?" Hope asks. "Please? We could stay there for the whole weekend. Then we'll get to do that stupid project and it's still going to be special to me!"

"What about Christina and Lorraine? I don't think that Christina is the adventurous type and Lorraine might not be able to come, now that her mother woke up"

"Christina will get along with it. And Lorraine's Mom is in a hospital on the other side of Australia, she's still too weak for such a long trip. Lorraine's just missing today because she and her grandfather have to talk to doctors, that kind of stuff" Hope explains.

"Fine" I eventually grumble. "I'm overruled then"

"Trust me" Hope says. "It's gonna be awesome"

I doubt that. I absolutely doubt that. I bet that something weird will happen.

* * *

**Thursday**

Christina's POV

School was horrible. I messed up an English test and kept daydreaming in the other subjects. I guess I'm just really upset because of all the things Hope said yesterday. She tried to apologize several times, but I kept ignoring her.

I don't think this day can get any worse, but when I come home, I find my mother sitting on the kitchen table, crying her heart out.

"Mom?" I ask as I step closer. She looks horrible. Mascara is smeared all over her face and her eyes are red and puffy. She must have been like this for hours. I've never seen her devastated.

"What's wrong?" I ask frightened. She looks at me and opens her mouth but only sobs come out.

"Your… your father and I" her voice trails off and for a second her eyes just stare into an invisible distance. She gulps. "We had a fight. I'm leaving"

What? I stare at her speechless then laugh nervously because it's the first thing that comes to my mind. My laughter gets louder and hysterical, then out of nowhere turns into tears. I gasp for air, then say.

"You can't be serious"

My mother doesn't answer. Then she leans over and gives me a hug. I pull away. She gives me a sad look.

"You'll be better off with your father. I'm such a horrible mother"

"Only if you leave"

"I have to. It's what's best for you. I love you, don't you ever forget that" With that she gets up and grabs her suitcase. I just stare after her, unable to move. I can't even open my mouth to say something. When I hear the door slam, I suddenly function again.

"No!" I yell and run after her. "No!" I'm tot late. I only get to see the car leave. I'm standing there, frozen and stare after her. My eyes stay dry. I can't cry. Not now. Not while I'm just standing here. I walk inside and to my room. Halfway up the stairs I bump into my father. He looks just as horrible as my mother. He opens his mouth and I bet he's talking to me, but I don't pay attention to his words. I ignore him and enter my room. Where's my bag? I have to get out of here. There. What do I need? Money. Clothes. Toothbrush. My science stuff. I just throw it into my bag not caring if something breaks. I won't be gone for long only for the weekend. My dad is knocking on my door.

"Come in!" I yell. He enters and stares at my bag with wide eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"I won't be gone for long. Only for the weekend" I assure him.

"B- but you can't just go"

"Watch me" I say. I'm sorry for him. He's standing there looking like a lost puppy. "Trust me, I'll be back. I promise"

He gulps and nods.

"I see you on… Monday?"

"Monday, maybe already Saturday or Sunday"

"Shall I call the school and tell them you're sick?"

"You would do that?" I ask surprised. He shrugs.

"Yes. But only if you don't want to go"

"I never knew you were such a cool Dad"

"Promise me you have a place to stay?"

"Yes. The perfect place. Nothing will happen to me"

* * *

I arrive at Louise's place a few minutes later. Her little brother opens the door.

"Hi" I say and give him a sad smile. He looks at my bag.

"Are you planning on moving in?" he asks in a serious voice.

"No, I just need to talk to Louise"

"She's in her room. May I carry your bag?"

I chuckle.

"I can do that by myself, but thanks"

* * *

I find Louise in her room.

"Hi Christina" she says surprised. "Gosh you look awful, what happened?"

"My mother left us" I admit embarrassed.

"Oh" Louise say and just when I think that the whole situation is about to turn out awkward she hugs me. I relax in her arms. I'm glad I didn't go to one of my other friends or maybe Cody, they wouldn't understand.

"Thanks Louise" I whisper. "I may only know you for a week, but you are already the best friend I ever had"

"And you are the best friend I could ever have. Do you think our parents were just as close as we are?"

"If they were, something really horrible must have happened" I say and then I realize that I'm crying into Louise's shirt. I try to pull away but she holds me tight.

"Do you know what we're doing now?" she asks.

"What?" I sob.

"We go downstairs and my Mom will make you a wonderful cup of hot chocolate, that helps in every situation"

* * *

"Thank you Mrs. McCartney"

"Call me Cleo" she orders. "Can I do anything else for you?" she asks.

"No, I'm fine, thanks" I smile at her weakly. She grins back.

"You can stay here if you want to" she offers.

"No, thank you. I had other plans"

"Are you sure?"

I hesitate. Staying with this nice family is a tempting offer…

"Do you have a boat? And a tent?" I then ask.

"You are not planning on camping, are you?"

"Well, yes" I admit. "Louise, Catherine, Hope and Lorraine will join in tomorrow anyways, so there shouldn't be any problem"

"Mako Island is a wild place. People don't go there for a reason"

"Louise said you used to spend a lot of time over there"

"Yes, but that was completely different! Just imagine everything that could happen to you! Besides you have school tomorrow"

"My Dad told the school I was ill. Besides nothing is going to happen. I'll be perfectly fine"

"No" Cleo shakes her head "No, the risk is too high"

"What risk?" I hear Mr. McCartney's voice.

"She wants to camp on Mako Island, all alone!"

"Really? Do you want to borrow my boat Christina? But you need to be careful with it"

"I promise" I smile at him.

"Lewis!" Cleo protests. "That's far too dangerous! Imagine what could happen to her! A snake could bite her or she could fall and sprain her ankle or a storm could approach her!"

"You've been out on Mako Island for some nights too"

"That was different and you know it" Cleo says angry and leaves the room. Mr. McCartney sighs.

"Excuse me for a second" he says and goes after his wife.


	10. Mako Magic

**Friday**

Louise's POV

We push the boat on the beach.

"Where is Christina?" I immediately ask, panicking a little.

"Gosh, stop worrying" Lorraine yells annoyed. She looks kinda stressed. She didn't say much the entire day. I guess she's a little confused about her feelings because of the whole thing about her mother.

"Guys, just calm down" Hope says. "This is supposed to be an awesome weekend and all you do is bitching on each other"

"I doubt the occurring awesomeness" Catherine mumbles and looks at the woods. "Do I have to go there?" she asks with a disgusted look on her face.

"Oh yes" Hope giggles. "And you even have to dig in the mud to get soil samples"

I can't help but smile at the thought if Catherine crawling on the floor. She gives me a dirty look and I try to put on a serious face.

"Let's just go and set up the tents" she then says.

"Perfect idea" Lorraine agrees. "The earlier we prepare our camping area, the earlier we can go exploring and I get to see you fall into a creek or a hole or something like that. It's going to be so awesome"

Catherine snorts and stomps away obviously pissed. I sigh. If they act like this all weekend it'll be horrible.

"Hey!" I hear someone yell. I turn around to see Christina running towards us. She looks a lot better than yesterday. She stops in front of us.

"I found the perfect camping side on a glade close to a creek. I tried the water, it's perfectly clear. We can drink it"

"Where are we? Survival Camp?" Lorraine asks. "I brought bottles with water"

"Didn't think you were smart enough" Catherine comments from a distance.

"Do you always tend to underestimate people because they are no spoiled brats like you and don't wear polo-shirts and glasses?"

"I don't have glasses!" Catherine protests, "And I wear blouses not polo-shirts"

"My ass. It was a metaphor"

"What for?"

"Nerdy clothes"

I can't help but giggle. Once again Catherine looks at me angrily.

"What's so funny?" she asks.

"Nothing!" I say, searching for an excuse. "I just thought it was funny that you guys keep fighting and at the same time wear matching necklaces that are supposed to symbolize friendship"

Catherine touches the locket carefully.

"My mother made me wear it" she defends herself. "She said that it has to come back to Mako Island"

"Aww" Lorraine mocks her "Did it talk to her? Does your mother hear voices?"

Catherine snorts then stomps away. Christina sighs.

"Why does everything always have to be about our mothers?" she asks sadly. "Why can't they be a little more like yours?"

I shrug. I'm glad my mother is the way she is. I wouldn't treat her in for any other mother. Definitely not for Christina's mother who left her or Lorraine's mother who has been in a coma for most of Lorraine's life.

Half an hour later we finally have overcome our differences and set the tents up. Hope apologized to Christina once more and this time Christina gave her a nod. I guess that's the closest thing to forgiveness in this case. Catherine and Lorraine just decided not to talk to each other.

We are going to climb up on the mountain to install a small weather station. 'We' means Christina and I because Lorraine couldn't care less, Hope is too busy with admiring the beauty of the island and Catherine is still pouting. They are just following us because, well, who knows.

Christina is taking the lead and carries the weather station which was built by my father when he was a teenager. I'm right behind her, Lorraine is behind me, then Hope and following in a distance is Catherine.

Suddenly Christina stops.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"We have to jump over a little gap between two rocks. Could you guys step back so I can take a run-up?"

"Sure" we step back and watch her jump.

"It's not hard!" she yells. Even the weather station reached the other side safely. I nod and look at her. I just wish I would have put on sneakers instead of flats. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, then jump. When my feet touch the wet rock on the other side I'm only struggling for a brief moment, then get a firm stand. I open my eyes and smile at Christina triumphantly. Suddenly something lands next to me. I scream just to realize it's only Lorraine followed by Hope. Only Catherine is still standing on the other side.

"I can't do it!" she yells.

"Don't be a chicken!" Lorraine shouts back. Here they go again.

"I'm going to slip!"

"Just jump. Even Hope could do it and she is wearing sandals"

Catherine nods. I can see that she's really pale. Maybe we should allow her to go back to the camp… Too late. She's already flying through the air. I close my eyes because I don't want to see her I fall. I hear an ear-piercing scream and when I open my eyes she's nowhere to be seen. Christina, Hope and Lorraine stare at the place were she must have disappeared.

"I told you she'd fall into a hole" Lorraine then says. Christina gives her an angry look and sets down the weather station to rush to the hole. We follow her quickly.

"Catherine? Can you hear me?" she shouts.

"Yes!" We hear her faint voice "There is some kind of a weird cave down here"

"Can you climb up?" Hope asks concerned.

"No way" Catherine whimpers. Poor girl. I knew we should have sent her back to the camp.

"Let's just leave her and you'll see how fast she'll be up here" Lorraine suggests.

"No!" I say. She can really piss me of sometimes. "You may not like her, but that's no reason to be so mean"

"I'm not mean. Just realistic"

"Of course you are mean" Hope agrees with me. "But it's not your fault. You are a person with many different problems"

"I don't have any problems" Lorraine protests. "And I can be nice. Watch me" she says and then jumps into the hole. Christina slaps her forehead.

"Ow!" Catherine whimpers. "You fell on my leg! What are you doing here anyways?"

"Keeping you company. Hey is that a tunnel?"

"I can't see anything! It's dark you fucking genius!"

"Woah, slow down here girl! Have you hit your head or why are you able to cuss all of the sudden?" Lorraine asks then calls "Hey you people on the surface, do you have a flashlight?"

"Yes. I have one for the case that it gets dark before we are back from the mountain top" I answer.

"Throw it down!"

"No way! If you don't catch it, it might break and then we have no chance to get you out of there" I say.

"But we need it. Jump down here!" she demands. I shake my head before I remember she can't see it. When I'm just about to open my mouth Christina grabs the flashlight from me and disappears in the hole as well.

"Ow!" Catherine whimpers once more. "You fell on my arm"

"Why don't you move away from the entrance then?" Lorraine asks and I can almost hear that she is rolling her eyes. "What brings you here Christina?"

"Making sure you guys don't kill each other. You were right this is a tunnel. Hey Louise, Hope, can you hear me?"

"Yes!" I answer.

"Lorraine, Catherine and I will explore the cave, while you guys go back to the camp and get a rope"

"I won't explore this cave" Catherine whines. "Someone has to stay to stay at the entrance with me"

"Fine. Lorraine stay with her"

"What? No way I'm going to stay with that cry-baby. You stay with her and I explore the cave"

"No, I have the flashlight", Christina answers.

"You could just give it to me" Lorraine laughs. "You don't want to stay with her, do you? See Catherine, nobody likes you enough to stay with you"

"Hey!"

I sigh. Hope looks at me then shrugs her shoulders and yells into the hole:

"You are still mean Lorraine! But it's not your fault, just like I said! I'm coming down to stay with you, Catherine!" And with that she jumps and leaves me all alone in the approaching dark.

"Ow! You fell on my…"

"Nobody cares!"

"Guys?" I ask. "It's getting dark and I fear I won't find the way back to the camp"

I look around. The woods are so still and creepy, I don't think I'll be able to stay here all alone. I just wonder how Christina survived the last night without peeing her pants. "I'm coming down!" I yell and close my eyes, preparing for the fall.

* * *

Hope's POV

I've never seen a place like that. It's mystical and ancient and at the same time destroyed and trashed. But it didn't lose its awe-inspiring atmosphere and the hint of magic that blows through it like a summer breeze. The pool on one side of the grotto looks like a portal to another world.

"Why would someone blow up a cave in a volcano?" Rainy asks confused.

"I know, right?" I whisper and grab her hand as a reflex. I always do that when something seems overwhelming to me "Mankind can be so destructive"

"Do you think it's save in here?" Catherine asks worried. "I don't want to die yet"

"It should be" Christina answers. "People don't come to Mako Island, so it must have been a while since someone blew it up"

"Maybe they did it secretive" Louise says.

"Yes but we didn't find any traces outside that would show that someone set a foot on that island for a long time…"

I turn away from them. I mean, do they have to discuss something as banal as this at such an amazing place? I touch the wall. It's cool, but smooth from immense heat. At some place it even shines. I look closer and notice that there are beautiful crystals in it. I reach for one and to my surprise it's easy to loose it from the wall. It falls into my hand. It's blue and shines like a drop of water. Rainy steps next to me.

"Isn't it beautiful?" I ask. She nods, speechless. Not even she can resist the magic of this place. "Look what we found" I tell the others. It wouldn't be fair not to share our discovery with them.

They look at us curiously. I show them the crystal.

"My grandmother mentioned that Rikki, Cleo and Bella were wearing blue crystals" Christina remembers as she takes one of the crystals out of the wall.

"Do you think they got them here?" Louise asks.

"It would make sense, wouldn't it?" Catherine asks. "They discover the cave and the crystals. They decide to keep it a secret, but then one of them spills or even causes the explosion herself. The others are not fine with it and they fight" she puts the pieces together.

"No way!" Louise protests immediately. "My mother wouldn't do such a thing"

"My mother wouldn't do that, too" Christina agrees. "Would your parents do that, Hope?"

"Of course not!" I answer shocked how someone could assume something like that. "I can't imagine that someone would do such a thing"

"What about your mother, Lorraine?" Catherine asks. That's a mean question. Now everyone is automatically going to blame it on her.

"How am I supposed to know?" she snaps.

"Oh right. I forgot you don't know her"

Why do people always think revenge was sweet? This way, Catherine is never going to find out that Rainy is actually pretty nice and Rainy will never get to know Catherine. Rainy clenches the crystal in her fist.

"Could we just stop bringing up our mothers?" Christina almost yells. It seems like a sensitive topic to her. I hope it's not because of what I said… The guilt is eating me alive.

"Yeah, let's stop" I say quickly, for Christina's and Rainy's sake and probably also Catherine's because Rainy looks like she is about to punch her.

"Please?" Louise adds. I like that girl. I think she and I are alike in some points. I smile at her thankfully.

"Okay" Catherine says and looks as if she is fighting her tears. "I'm just… I don't know. This whole Mako Island adventure is upsetting me"

Rainy opens her mouth, but then closes it. Instead she just turns around to take a second crystal from the wall. When it falls into her hand, it touches the other crystal and suddenly the grotto is full of bright blue light.

"Woah" Louise says breathless.

"That's unusual" Christina says dryly, but I can tell that she's fascinated.

"Can I have a closer look at that?" Catherine asks suspicious. That girl doesn't recognize a miracle when it's right in front of her eyes. Rainy steps closer to her, her face strangely soft. When the blue rays touch the surface of the pool the water suddenly starts to bubble. Louise lets out a low scream of wonder. I stare at the water and feel a small smile forming on my face.

Holding my own crystal tight I step closer to the tempting blue water. I can't help it. I slide into it. Although it's bubbling it's not hot. Strangely doesn't even feel weird. Just right. It even looks as if there are bubbles floating above the pool and up to the small piece of the sky that is seen through the crater. Vaguely I notice that the others joined me in the water. Breathlessly we are staring into the dark sky until the light suddenly goes out. I look around confused and notice that Rainy separated the crystals because otherwise she would have went under in the deep water. She spits out water. Okay, she probably went under and I didn't notice.

"It's salty" she says. "There's a connection to the ocean"

"Looks like there is a tunnel" Christina says and swims over. "I'll check if we are able to get out of here that way"

I stare after her as she disappears in the water. The sea is a mystery and especially this grotto.

* * *

I plop down on a log, not far away from the fire.

"I'm tired as hell" I announce.

"No wonder" Christina says. "We've been swimming around half of the island"

"Trough shark territory" Catherine adds shaking. She gets closer to the fire.

"You should change out of your wet clothes" Louise advises her. She comes from the creek, looking refreshed. "Out of some reason, I'm not tired" she says and looks at her watch. "Although it's after midnight" she says and then squeals.

"What's going on?" I ask as she looks at me with a grin plastered on her face.

"Happy birthday!" she then says and throws her arms around me. Oh my gosh! I'm seventeen! I would have forgotten about that completely. Sometimes my memory or more the lack of it even scares me myself.

"Thank you so much!" I say happily as Louise pulls away.

"I have something for you" she says and gives me an absolutely stunning slide in the shape of a butterfly.

"Wow, it's so beautiful, thanks" I smile, surprised that she even got a present for me.

"Happy birthday, Hope" I hear Catherine's voice. "I wasn't sure what kind of stuff you like, so I thought I'd just offer to tutor you for free"

"I… don't really think I need tutoring, but thanks" It's a nice offer I guess, but I have no use for it.

"But your bad at math, aren't you?" she asks confused.

"I'm not bad. I'm just not good"

"What's the difference?"

Shall I explain it? She won't understand.

"I tell you when I need I tutor" I finally say, because I don't want to cause any more fights.

She nods.

"I wish you a happy birthday, too" Christina says and even smiles. "I don't have a present for you, I just forgot about it. I really am sorry"

"No problem" It already makes me happy that she congratulated. That may seem like a small step, but it could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. "I bet Rainy doesn't have a present, either!" I laugh.

"Hey, hey! Don't judge me" she grins. "Happy birthday, Hope. You don't mind that I didn't wrap it up, do you?" she asks as she hands me something that shines in the light of the fire.

"The third locket!" I say surprised. "Thank you!"


	11. Mermaids

**Wasn't in the right mood for writing the last few days, too much school stuff going on, no real inspiration... Anyway, here we go! By the way, thanks for the lovely reviews I got, they make me happy!  
**

**Saturday**

Catherine's POV

Why is my bed so hard? I feel like I'm sleeping on the floor. I groan and stretch my arm, still half-asleep. I'm brushing someone's soft skin. What the…

I shoot up. Right, I'm on Mako Island. That's why I feel like my back is black and blue. Next to me lays Louise, sleeping soundly. She looks so peaceful, just like Christina who sleeps in a sleeping bag next to her. I catch myself smiling at them. My mood is surprisingly good, but I'm sure that will wear of when I open the tent to find the wilderness outside. Honestly, camping trips are horrible. I mean, I fell in a freaking hole yesterday! And discovered this weird grotto… It seems like a dream to me, now that I look back. Automatically I reach under my mat to see if the blue crystal I took with me is still here. It's even prettier, now that I look at it. I should go and see it in the sunlight.

I smile and crawl out of the tent, careful not to wake up someone. Sighing I look around to spot a place that is at least slightly clean. The log could do… I sit down and look at my crystal. It shines like the deep blue ocean. I wonder what kind of crystal it is… Is it precious?

"Crap" I curse when it slips out of my fingers and into the ashes of the fire from last night. I should go and clean it.

I walk down to the creek, careful not to step into something nasty. You never know what tends to lie around in the woods. I mean animals have to leave their excrements somewhere, right?

When I arrive at the creek I eye the water suspiciously, just to be sure that there is nothing swimming around in it. Christina said it was drinkable… Only the thought makes me shudder. I kneel down and put my hand with the crystal in the creek. I brush the ashes off softly, but suddenly I start to feel weird… My legs itch and I feel nauseous for a second. I close my eyes to get rid of the feeling.

When I open them the first thing I notice is something in front of my eye. Is that hair? My hair never hangs into my eyes. It's even braided when I'm asleep. I reach for it in wonder. Why does it feel as if it's flowing over my partly bare back? I turn my head just to make sure I'm still wearing my t-shirt and can't believe my eyes. I'm a fish. Not exactly a fish… I can't even finish my own thoughts because I'm already starting to scream.

"What happened?" Christina comes running to me, but stops dead in her tracks when she actually sees me. The other girls are following her. Their eyes widen as they stare at me. It must be real then. But it can't be because it's just not possible.

"Do something!" I yell at them. I wish I could just run away from their intense stares, but I can't move because I got a tail!

"You're a mermaid". Hope points out the obvious. A smile creeps on her face. "I always knew they existed!"

"You're a weirdo" I answer, shaking my head at her.

"But obviously I was right, huh?"

"Obviously" Christina agrees, still stunned. "How is that possible?" she asks as she bents down and touches my tail carefully.

"I don't know! It must have been something in the creek, because I just touched the water and then…" My legs, or better my tail itches again and suddenly is gone. Christina jumps back. I stare at my legs that are covered by the normal sweat-pants I wore tonight. My hair is braided again and my t-shirt is back where it belongs.

"That was…" Louise is searching for words.

"Let's pretend it never happened?" I beg. Maybe that's the truth. Maybe this island makes me go crazy. You know, the humid climate and I could have a cold or a fever which makes me imagine things.

"You had a tail. That's nothing you could ignore. Besides, do you know if it will return?" Lorraine asks. I stare at her in shock.

"Don't say that!" I refuse to believe it could happen again.

"We don't know. We don't know what causes it, means we don't know if it will return" Lorraine tells me with a triumphant smile but i bet she's just as scared as me.

"I think the crystals caused it" Hope suddenly says. "Or the grotto. Or both. When we got there I had this feeling. There was magic in the air. And how would you describe the blue light and the bubbling water? Magic"

"If it was the light and the bubbles and the water it should have happened to all of us, shouldn't it?" Louise concludes. The others stare at her. I get up a little dizzy, but normal. It would be good to know that I wasn't the only one.

"There's only one way to find out" Lorraine says. "What exactly did you do Catherine?"

"I was cleaning my crystal, in the water"

Lorraine nods and bents down.

"Give me your crystal" she orders. I give it to her and she takes it and dips it into the creek. I stare at her holding my breath. Suddenly she squeals and falls forwards because you obviously can't keep your balance on fins. We stare at her without saying a single word.

"It was the water or the crystal or both in combination" she then says.

"Probably" Louise nods. "But why did Catherine's tail go away?"

"Because she was dry" Christina shrugs.

"So I should get out of the water if I want to walk ever again?" Lorraine asks.

"I'll help you" Hope offers.

"Just don't get wet"

"I'm careful. Gosh girl, you're heavy"

"Do you think I can ask my father about this?" Louise asks unsure. "He's marine biologist so he might know"

"Marine biologist means scientist, means labs and tests, means he's the enemy" Christina says. "We have to keep this a secret"

As she says the word secret everybody stares at her with wide eyes.

"We solved it" Louise then says. "It all makes sense now. What Mrs. Chatham said, what we heard from our parents…"

"Gah, how can I be so stupid?" I ask and slap my forehead. "My mother even said it was all about mermaids!"

"Your mother told you?" Christina asks.

"Yes! But I thought she was kidding or had gone insane or something like that. How was I supposed to know that this was real? I still can't believe it!" I gesture at Lorraine's shiny bronze-colored tail. "It's real" I realize and then everything goes black.

* * *

Christina's POV

"Ten seconds" Louise says. "It takes ten seconds until the transformation starts"

She grabs a piece of paper and writes it down. I feel like I'm the science project now. Of course, nobody will ever get to see this very special project.

"Why doesn't it work with tears?" Lorraine asks.

"How do you know?" Hope asks. She seems pretty cool about the whole thing. But she's made for this I guess.

"Catherine is crying" Lorraine answers and points at the woods. I sigh. She takes it really hard. She even fainted.

"I'll go and look for her" I say as my legs reappear. "Lorraine, you can play the science project for Louise for a minute"

"Why me? Besides, we should probably return to the city soon. It's almost noon"

"We can't return before we haven't sorted this out" I answer.

"Really? What do you plan to do? We already know that we can't stop it and have no idea on how to get rid of it. Just accept it. The only thing we can do is stay away from water when we're with people" she answers. I know that she's right.

"Maybe Miss Chatham can help us" Louise says. "She seems to know a lot about mermaids"

"And our parents" Hope completes. "They were keeping the secret themselves. Means they could have been mermaids too"

"But they aren't anymore" I say. "So there has to be a way to get rid of it"

"I don't want to get rid of it" Hope says calmly. I roll my eyes. I already gave up on trying talking some sense into her. She just won't realize that life as we know it is over. She keeps calling it the 'best thing that ever happened to us'.

"Whatever" I say. "I'll go and look after Catherine"

Before they are able to say something, I walk away.

Catherine is sitting on the ground, sobbing slightly.

"Hey" I say as I bent down. "Do you want to come to the beach?"

"No. Why would I? I might turn into a fish!"

"A mermaid, not a fish. It's not that bad, trust me. I just went for a swim and it's beautiful! You can experience the ocean in a way you never saw it before!" I tell her. It's true. I always loved diving, just me and the water. It's relaxing and welcoming, now that I can hold my breath that easily even more. I could have stayed under water for ever.

"The ocean is not my thing. My father… he drowned"

"Oh" I don't know what to say. "I'm sorry"

Catherine shakes her head.

"If you are, just don't force me to go for a swim, okay? Do you know what hurts the most?" she asks and looks at me.

"You can tell me, but only if you want to" I say softly.

"I always felt as if my mother didn't give a damn. She kept painting the sea and the waves and mermaids, although she knew her paintings scared me. I was seven back then. I felt as if she thought the sea had the right to take away what was important to me, as if she loved the sea more than Dad! She wanted this for me. She wanted me to become a mermaid since we moved here. For some reason she had to give up on being a mermaid, no I bet that your parents forced her to give it up and she never got over it! When she finds out that her wishes came true and I am one of that kind… I don't know what she'll do. She'll make me fulfill her dreams and I just don't want to! Please Christina, she can't find out…"

"I won't tell her" I promise. "We all have to keep our secret" I don't know what I can do to make her happy. I never expected so much pain and desperation behind that girl. Her mother isn't really easy I guess. Just like mine. "We all face troubles with our mothers from time to time. Lorraine doesn't even know hers but now probably has to get used to her and my mother used to care only for her work and this weekend she just left"

"Yes, but you still have your Dad and Lorraine has a grandfather. I only have her and nobody else in this world"

"You have us!" I say enthusiastically. Catherine just laughs at me.

"Really? I didn't think you could stand me. After all I'm just some girl who keeps whining and expects special treatment"

"And Hope is a free spirit who can be overly nice but doesn't give a damn about work. Louise is way too perfect and studies me like a science project. And Lorraine… Don't even get me started. Nobody's perfect Catherine. Not you or I or them. That doesn't mean nobody likes anyone. Besides, look at the locket you're wearing. It symbolizes friendship and trust in each other"

"I don't think I can trust Hope or Lorraine"

"Give it a try. Hope is different from us, but I think she already loves you. She doesn't even have a choice than loving you. It's just the way she is. And I can't say I trust Lorraine, that's right, but I think she might be a good and loyal friend. We just need to give it a shot. We are five completely different girls, but we were united by fate"


	12. Home

_**Still the same day**_

_**with Rikki**_

_Rikki looks aroun__d and a smile creeps on her face but quickly faints. She __can't believe she was in a coma for 16 years, that's just surreal. But it's what they doctors said. But they also said she was weak and wouldn't be able to move for a long time andt obviously they were as wrong as they could be, because here she is. Gold Coast. Oh, the place hasn't changed in all those years that must have passed. At least the airport didn't. Only the security checks have gotten stricter. People are nuts these days!_

_Rikki looks at her brand new ID. She's 38. 38! It feels like she was 22 just a fe__w days ago and now she's freaking old! Well, not old but she missed the best years of her life. 16 years. 16 precious lost years. Her daughter is 16 now. They called her Lorraine at the orphanage because they didn't know her real name._

_Lorraine. Not exactly what Rikki would have decided on, but she'll go with it._

_Lorraine. The name keeps echoing in her head. Lorraine, her daughter. Terry, her father. Zane. Cleo, Bella, Emma, Will, Lewis. All the ghosts of her past come rushing to her and her legs start to shake. She has to close her eyes and tries to ignore the sudden throbbing pain in her head. Rikki's cursing her own weakness when she steps into the bus that will bring her to the Trailer Park, and the driver gives her a concerned look . A young woman offers her a seat and she sits down, her cheeks flushing red in embarrassment. Only a few days ago, she was like her. Young, dynamic, always smiling a little when someone was weaker than her, proud of her own strength. And now this is all far away in the past. Once again she touches her face to feel all the lines that haven't been there before. She sighs as a group of teenagers enters the bus. Two girls and two boys. They sit down behind Rikki._

"_So Cody, when are you breaking up with Christina?"_

"_Why should I?"_

"_We all that you are totally into that new friend of hers, Louise"_

"_I'm not into her, I just think she's damn hot"_

"_And you want to get into her pants what would mean cheating on your girlfriend"_

"_Who cares?"_

"_Cody, Cody, when will you ever realize that it is really important to girls that their boyfriend is faithful?"_

_Rikki sighs. Having a boyfriend who isn't faithful hurts pretty darn much. Who would know that better than her? _

_**with Bella & Will**  
_

"_You have a visitor"_

_Will says and walks into the kitchen where his wife is trying to fix Hope's birthday cake. Nate follows him._

"_Bella, babe!" _

_He says but when he sees the expression on Will's face he corrects himself._

"_I mean partner. Band-partner"_

"_What is it, Nate?" _

_She asks and tries desperately to fill the hole in the cake where the dog stole a piece. _

"_What would you do if I told you that we have a last-minute-gig at the Rikki's tonight?"_

"_I would tell you that it's my daughter's seventeenth birthday and that she can be here any minute. I have absolutely no time"_

"_You could celebrate at the Rikki's. Free drinks included. You just have to sing"_

"_No Nate!"_

"_Uhm, Bella"_

_Will says shyly._

"_That might actually be a good idea. Have you seen the front yard? Rick and Rose had this small water fight that turned into this small paint fight"_

"_Really? I thought it was some kind of art" _

_Nate asks interested _

"_Who won?"_

"_Rose, but that's not the point" _

_ Bella answers then sighs and says:_

"_Our front yard is trashed. Fine, I'll sing and we can celebrate at the Rikki's if you get Zane to agree on that free-drinks-deal"_

"_Awesome. Damn Will, you got that feisty babe under control. Partner. That feisty partner of mine. Don't look at me as if you wanted to kill me, I have a black belt!"_

_**with Cleo & Lewis**  
_

"_But I want to pick her up" _

_Tony says._

"_I heard that Mako Island is an interesting place for research. Come on, Dad!"_

"_No Tony"_

_Lewis groans from behind his newspaper._

"_Mommy?"_

"_No Tony. But I could take you fishing instead. If you do your homework first"_

_Cleo offers._

"_I already did my homework. It was boring. Can't I skip a class? I want to be 10 years older and do science projects like Louise!"_

"_No Tony. You are seven and you can't change it"_

"_One day I will invent a potion that can change your age or I will prove the existence of mermaids or something like that. You will admire me!"_

"_Good luck"_

_Lewis says._

"_Do you want to go fishing or don't you?"_

_Cleo asks._

"_Okay. But you have to tell me everything you know about Mako Island"_

"_Fine. I'll tell you about magic and mermaids and the full moon"_

_Lewis says. His son looks at him angry, not believing a single word. He's too smart to believe into mermaids. He just said that he'll prove their existence because it was the first thing to come to his mind. But maybe they do exist after all… They could make him famous and rich, if he'd just show them to the world. _

_**with Charlotte**  
_

_Charlotte scans the letter worried. Catherine won't like the idea of moving once more. But this is a once in a lifetime-chance. Painting a picture of a film star… Charlotte sighs dreamily. Well, her daughter would have to cope with it. After all she's doing this for her, too. And since all her dreams about mermaids are shattered and she heard that Lewis moved to the USA there is nothing that could keep her at this very special place. Sure, the house is nice, the garden beautiful, the neighborhood friendly, but that's just not enough for a Charlotte Watsford. _

_**with Emma**_

_Emma reaches for her cell phone once more, but pulls her hand back. She's been like this for the last hours. She buries her face in her hands and curses herself. Here she is, Emma Dove, the woman with big dreams, sitting in a stupid motel-room. She had her life sort out. A husband to love, a fulfilling job, a daughter who does well at school… Gosh, she had everything. But here she is a wreck who is too ashamed to tell her own parents that she left her family behind like a coward. One last try, she tells herself, but just when she is about to touch the phone it vibrates. She jumps back and stares at it for a brief moment. Then she grabs it with shaking fingers._

"_Yes?"_

_She whispers._

"_Emma?"_

_A female voice asks._

"_Mom"_

"_Ash called me. Is it true?"_

"_Yes. I'm so sorry"_

"_Don't apologize to me. Apologize to your husband and your daughter"_

"_Yes"_

_Emma answers, fighting the sobs in her throat that is already sore from crying._

"_Did you know that Christina ran away?"_

"_What?"_

_Emma feels as if her heart stops for a second._

"_Yes. Ash doesn't know where she went but she promised she had a place to stay. He called up her boyfriend, Cody, I think but he hadn't seen her. She promised to be back by Monday, but Ash is worried"_

"_I have to go and look for her!"_

_Emma cries, feeling guilt overwhelming her._

**with Zane**

"_I'm busy Miriam"_

_Zane says._

"_We haven't spent the night together in like forever! Can't you ditch the café for at least one evening?"_

"_Nate hired a band or at least that's what he told me. Last time the band consisted of him and a keyboard"_

"_It's just one evening Zane! We could have dinner at some fancy restaurant, even try for kids!"_

"_You want kids?"_

"_Well, I heard that pregnant women are always surrounded by some kind of special glow. And their boobs grow. I need bigger boobs and since you are not willing to pay for a surgery…"_

"_Forget it"_

"_You don't want kids because Rikki had that abortion back then, right?"_

"_How do you know?"_

_He asks with a pale face._

"_You talk in your sleep, Zane. But wouldn't it be exciting if she lied to you? Even that girl at the party, Lorraine, could be your daughter then!"_


	13. Mom

**I rewrote this chapter like seven times, because I just didn't like it. I hope it's okay now and you'll like it! Just tell me what you think! All your comments on the previous chapter made me happy, thank you!**

Lorraine's POV

"You have to come to my birthday party!" Hope begs.

"No, I absolutely don't" I answer. "Would you let me concentrate on driving the boat?"

"Oh. Let me do that!" she smiles.

"You know how to do that? We are basically floating and the others are probably already at home, because I have no clue about boats and you…"

"You said you didn't need help" she says in that sweet and innocent voice and I run out of arguments. She grins.

"Fine" I grumble and let her take my seat. "Let's just hope you really know how to do that, I don't want to swim"

"Why not? We might be even faster. We have to try how fast we can swim, okay? We could meet tomorrow!" her eyes sparkle. She's really enthusiastic about the whole mermaid-thing. I'm more worried and I have to admit that sucks. Being worried is kinda new to me. But I'm the master in dealing with unexpected situations. So I will make the best out of it. I'm a mermaid, that's a fact and my life just got a lot more complicated, but also way cooler. Suddenly my cell phone vibrates.

"Didn't know I had service out here" I mumble surprised.

"We're not far from the beach anymore" Hope answers. I grab my phone.

"Hello?"

"Lorraine?" Oh. It's just Terry. Well, who else should it be?

"That would be me. What's up?"

"I don't know how to tell you" he says and I bet that he's wiping some sweat off his forehead. "She's back" he then says.

"Who?" I ask a little confused.

"Rikki! She's back! Back!" he screams and to me it sounds like he's crying. "Can you believe it? It's incredible isn't it? I can't believe it" he keeps ranting.

"Terry" I finally cut him off. "Why are you calling me?" confused silence. Then:

"Because your mother is here"

"Yes, I realized" I answer and I know I sound harsh, but that's my defence wall. It always kicks in when I'm in danger to get too sentimental. Besides, the whole situation is surreal to me.

"Don't you want to come home?" Terry asks.

"I… can't" I lie. Well, it's not a real lie, I really can't. If I went home it would just be way too weird. "I'm invited to a friend's birthday party"

"Oh. But… RIKKI is here"

"Yes!" I almost yell. Gosh, exactly that's the point. I know I have to meet her eventually, but this will be so awkward. "But I don't even know her, okay? And I don't want to!" I answer and hang up. I shouldn't have said that. I bury my head in my hands, then look at Hope for some distraction.

"You should apologize" she says seriously. Exactly what I didn't need to hear. I know that myself, okay?

"Not gonna happen" I answer and jump off the boat. I dive into the water and soon feel my tail growing. When I resurface I hear Hope's voice.

"But you're still coming to the Rikki's later, aren't you?" I roll my eyes at her and go underwater again. I just noticed a huge advantage about being a mermaid: there's always an emergency exit. You can go places were no one will ever find you.

* * *

When I walk out of the water, I'm surprised to find the day almost gone. I hadn't even realized how much time I spent in the ocean. I never really loved the sea, I have to admit that, but with those abilities it's pretty awesome. Maybe Hope is right. Maybe it is the best thing that ever happened to us. I just wonder if that's really the secret of our parents past. And if it is we found out what kept them together, not what separated them. The sun is almost down. I wonder if Hope's party is still going on, she invited me so I should probably go… Or I'd just tell her I changed my mind and spent time with my mother. No, she won't believe that. Or will she?

I sigh and play with my necklace, still wondering why I never took it off. I've never liked jewellery that much, only sometimes to represent. And now here I am, wearing an ancient locket around my neck, which could have belonged to my grand-grandmother. It's not my style. I take it off and shove it into my pocket as I walk along the beach. A wave almost touches my bare feet and I jump away from the sea, only to bump into someone.

"Oops" I mumble when I see that I knocked her over. I stretch out my hand to help her up, but she ignores it completely.

"Politeness is too much to ask for, huh?" she asks annoyed.

"Sorry" I shrug unsure and look at her. Hell, no! Blue eyes, just like mine wander up and down my body. That… that's HER! Alive, I mean I knew she was alive but… She's got a normal skin-tone and facial expressions and she talks! I never noticed she was kinda pretty… Well, of course I did, but it was the creepy beauty of a vampire in an old movie. "You look good" I say and immediately curse my stupid mouth.

"And you're a creep" she passes me by and walks away. I turn around to look after her. "Stop staring!" she yells.

"Do you have eyes on the back of her head, or what?" No response. She just keeps walking and I can't take my eyes off her. I just met the stuff of my dreams. The person I used to dream of when I was a child. Sometimes I would have a nightmare and I would see her as a dead body, rising from the hospital bed with all the wires and tubes still stuck in her skin. Then again I also dreamt of her as an angel, a person surrounded by light, who would come and comfort me when the other kids were mean or when I had a bad dream. But here she is, a living breathing person.

I can't help but smile. She didn't know who I was or else this scene would have been a lot stranger. Well, how could she have known? She never saw me since I was an infant and she's obviously not the type for that creepy mother-daughter-connection-stuff. I can live with that. See Lorraine, I tell myself, that was nothing to be afraid of. Out of some weird reason I'm not even scared to live with her anymore.

Hope's POV

"Okay guys! I'm glad you all came and are willing to listen to the band even though that we may seem like some old creeps to you!" Mom says into the mic. "I hope we do okay because we didn't have that much practice so we are just going to do some of our old songs. The first one is called 'Pretty Baby'!"

"Whooohooo!" Angel cheers. I grin and start to clap too. Sina is bouncing up and down on her seat excited. Rick is blushing hard and looks like he is a little ashamed of his mother. Quickly he hides behind Dads who smiles dreamily.

"Come on!" my sister Rose says and pulls me onto the dance floor. My friends are staring at me like I'm crazy, but they all got the smile on their faces that tells me that they expected something like that. Even Catherine grins. I can't believe she's here! We are not really the best friends, but it makes me happy to see her. Marc is sitting next to her wearing his I-am-dying-of-boredom-face. Maybe I should light him up a little… I walk over to him and pull him up.

"Come dancing!"

"No" he simply says and sits back down.

"Yes!", I demand playfully and pull him up once more.

"No"

"Yes!" I laugh at his blank expression. "You know that you want to!" he just gives me THE look. I can't stop from laughing and pull him up once more. Sina giggles and walks over.

"Juice!" she smiles and obviously wants to show me her glass, but when Marc sits down once more, he knocks it out of her hand and it spills all over my arm.

"Oh" I say and stare at it a little shocked. It's wet… Someone grabs my arm and drags me into the cold store. Immediately I fall on the hard floor.

"How can you be so reckless?" Christina demands to know. Where the hell did she come from?

"I… I wasn't thinking straight" I answer. "It was wet"

"Of course it was! It was juice you moron!"

"Sorry. I didn't want to upset you"

"This is not the problem Hope. You could have us killed!"

"Killed?" I ask slowly and stare at her in shock. "Why?"

"Because if someone would find out we were mermaids… Not only we will be the sensation of the century and they will study us and put us into laboratories, but everything people ever believed in will get turned up and down. When they see mermaids, they'll start to believe in magic and then there will be so-called-witches and they will sacrifice other people to serve some ancient goddesses and we will fall back into a society like in the middle ages!"

"Don't you think you're going slightly overboard here?" I ask her. Okay, the lab-part sounds reasonable, although I'll never understand why mankind believes that everything has to be studied and explained.

"No, I don't" Christina scoffs and throws her hands in the air. "We all can be glad I came here to take care of you. I knew, I just KNEW something would happen and I was right, wasn't I? a few seconds later and nothing would have ever been the same!"

I give her an angry look. If there was something I can't stand it would be having a babysitter.

"You could have trusted me" I complain.

"Oh yes? Really, I don't think you should talk that way after everything that just happened"

"Sorry" I mumble because I just can't deny the fact that she's right. "Can we just stop fighting? Honestly, I hate fighting and I have a feeling that times are already rough enough for you, so could we just hug and I get you a drink?" I offer.

"Yeah… sure" she answers caught off guard.

"Great" I answer and smile at her. "I'll just come out when I'm… normal agai- Oh" My legs already reappeared without me noticing.

I get off the floor and walk into the café again, glad to be out of the cold. Behind the door, I'm greeted by Louise, who was obviously making sure nobody would walk in on Christina and me.

"Hey Hope" she says friendly. "I'm sorry we are just interrupting your birthday party like this"

"No!" I quickly say. "I'm glad you guys came! Even Catherine is here, so why not you? And without Christina… what I did was not really the smartest thing. Where did Christina disappear to anyway? I promised to get her a drink" I look around but really can't see her. Instead I spot Rainy enter the café. I really hope she went to meet her mom and judging by the dreamily look on her face it could have happened.

"We're friends again, aren't we?" I ask as I walk over to her and lay my arm around her shoulders. She gives me a weird look then shrugs. I grin because I know that's the closest thing to a 'yes' I'm going to get from her. "Did you meet her?"

"Yes"

"Oooooohh!" I can't help but squeal and hug her. "I'm so happy for you!" I drag her to my table and make her sit down next to Marc, who just smiles at her. Seeing him smile at her like that makes my heart jump from joy because I see that he accepted her as a friend. If not as something else… I have to talk to him because if he falls for Rainy he might end up with a broken heart and that's nothing I wish for my all-time best friend. But I can do that later. Right now I need to hear everything about Rainy and her Mom. "And? Did you cry?" I ask but correct myself when I see Rainy's facial expression. "I meant… Did she cry?"

"She didn't look to my like someone who cries when someone else can see her tears. Besides, she didn't know who I was"

"What do you mean?" I ask confused. "How could she not know?"

"I kind of… went for a swim. For the whole afternoon and when I got out of the water and walked along the beach, there she was!" Rainy says smiling.

"Awww, that is just so romantic!" I tease her because I know it'll make her angry.

"What? No! Not at all", she argues back "It wa..."

"Get off that stage!" we hear someone yell through the café.


	14. Powers?

**Next chapter! I don't think I will update this story next week because I've got some important tests and a talk to prepare. You know, school stuff. So I might not have the time to write but I'll for sure try! Anyway, i hope you enjoy this chapter! Make me happy and leave me a review!  
**

Louise's POV

Everybody looks at the door. There's this man, looking like he is just about to explode from anger.

"That's the owner, Mr. Bennett" Christina whispers in my ear. I study him curiously. I've seen people like him before, the rich guys who think everything belongs to them. When my father brought home other professors for dinner or sponsors of his various projects, I got to meet a lot of them. I look at Lorraine and just can't imagine her mother to be with that man. He looks like, well, like everyone Lorraine would hate. Next to Mr. Bennett there's this blond woman who winks at some bartender. Poor boy.

"Zane, you can't just kick her out" the keyboard player whines.

"Shut up Nate. Bella, leave" Mr. Bennett orders and give him a warning look. The watch-out-or-I-will-fire-you-look.

The woman on stage, Hope's mother I guess, sighs.

"Zane, I thought we were over this. You can't keep pushing everyone who knew her away"

"You didn't know her. You were just friends with her because of this whole… water… thing" he answers.

I stare at him confused. Are they talking about Rikki? And if they are, does the fact that Mr. Bennett mentioned water mean he knew about the mermaid secret? And obviously Mrs. Benjamin must have known, too.

"I was friends with her because I liked her, okay? But you won't understand. No offence, but you're not really an expert on how to make friends"

"Don't talk to me like that!" he yells, now really angry.

"Don't yell at my Mom!" someone demands. When I look around to see who is talking, I spot a little boy, probably my brother's age, standing on the table with his hands on his hips.

"Rick, come down!" a girl next to him hisses.

"No! I will defend my family's honor! Dad, let go!" he protests as the man behind him simply lifts him down.

"Sorry. I gave him some old novels about knights" he apologizes.

"Will" Mr. Bennett says coldly. "Should have known you brought your clan and the oh-so-lovely Miss Chadwick" he adds when he spots Lorraine sitting on the table, too. She rolls her eyes and gets up.

"Should have known a party at your stupid café would suck big time. I'm out of here. See you at school, Hope. Don't let dickface over there ruin you your birthday" Lorraine grins and pats Mr. Bennett's shoulder as she walks past him, but before she can get outside the woman who was with him steps in her way.

"Not so fast" she chirps "I don't like the way you treat my husband"

Oh. So that's Mrs. Bennett. By her appearance I would have thought she was just his one-minute girlfriend because honestly, her purse is definitely fake. Maybe he's not even nice enough to buy his own wife something cute.

"Do you have to stand up for him? He's quite a little boy isn't he? But as cute as a bulldog. You fit him perfectly!"

Oh, Lorraine. That wasn't necessary, was it? Besides he looks nothing like a bulldog! He looks like a … a… whatever.

"Oh you didn't say that!" Mrs. Bennett screams and grabs a drink from a table, just to pour it all over Lorraine who backs away screaming.

"You fucking bitch!" she cries and clenches her fists. Suddenly the lamp over her head flickers then explodes in a ball of energy and electricity. The sparks rain on Lorraine's head and it smells like burned hair and ozone. Mrs. Bennett starts to scream after a brief second of shock. Lorraine curses, then seems to remember that she's been wet for almost five seconds and flees the scene. Christina immediately goes after her, probably to make sure that she gets to the ocean, before she turns into something fishy.

I bet I'm looking like a complete idiot right now, because I keep staring at that stupid lamp. That lamp that doesn't exist anymore, just to specify that. It just exploded! Right over Lorraine's head… Why do I have this weird feeling that she had something to do with it? From a scientific point of view, I have to admit that this wouldn't be possible, but after all I've seen today I honestly have my doubts in science. Or maybe this is just a dream and tomorrow I'll wake up and nothing ever happened. I probably got some kind of fever, exactly that's it. I'm still in my tent on Mako Island and I just imagined this cave and…

Oh, I know that's not true. This is as real as anything can be, so there must be a way to explain. Explain our tails and that explosion. I step forwards to have a better look on the crime scene. On a near table blazes a small flame without anyone noticing.

"Fire!" the girl that told Hope's brother to get off the table then screams. Everybody stares at her, but nobody moves.

"Put it out, Rose" Marc says calmly. "There's an extinguisher on the wall"

"I'll help you" Catherine adds. I hadn't noticed she was here, but she obviously sat in a dark corner.

"Good" Mr. Bennett says without tearing his glance away from the entrance. "Put it out. Good" Then he walks towards the door, like some kind of zombie. I bet he thought of mermaids when he saw Lorraine's reaction to the water. Just like Mrs. And Mr. Benjamin because they seem just as stunned as him. Oh, that's bad!

"The band, Zane" Mr. Bennett's wife reminds him. "Kick them out so this boring gig or whatever it's called will be over. Just do anything but staring at the little brat. She's not Rikki and Rikki wouldn't be worth staring after. Besides, she's dead"

"Get it in your head Miriam. She is not dead, as much as you wish her to be"

"She's in a coma" Miriam shrugs. "That's almost the same thing"

"Actually" I hear Hope say "She woke up a few days ago. Lorraine met her today"

Mr. Bennett stares at her and then asks in a breaking voice:

"She's back?"

"Yes, but don't tell Lorraine you heard it from me"

"Great, just great" Mrs. Bennett throws her hands in the air. "I'm leaving"

"Leaving me?" Mr. Bennett asks confused.

"No, you idiot! I'm going home!" she yells and walks out. On her way she bumps her shoulder against everyone in her way. Someone should teach that woman some manners. Growing up in a rich family doesn't have to mean that you have to act like universe's most stuck up person.

"Lorraine's off to Mako" Christina whispers into my ear. I hadn't noticed she came in again. "What happened to Mrs. Bennett? She looked a little pissed on her way out" she asks curiously.

"Hope told Mr. Bennett that Rikki is back. I guess his wife was a little angry because he didn't pay attention to her almost getting hit by that lamp. Do you know what I think?"

"No idea"

"I think Lorraine did this"

"What? Making the lamp explode?"

"Exactly. I think she has some kind of powers" I answer looking at my friend unsure. I know I sound crazy, but that's what I think. She shakes her head in disbelief.

"That's not possible. Oh, hi Mrs. Benjamin" she quickly says when Hope's mother steps next to us.

"You're Emma's daughter, aren't you?" the woman says with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to be sure. I didn't know you and Hope were friends"

"Yes, it just came kind of surprising. You know, the friendship-thing" Christina laughs nervously. That would be my cue to say something really smart to make Mrs. Benjamin back off, but just like in all situations of that kind, my mind is completely empty. Hope's mom nods.

"And not only that, right? I saw the way you guys avoided water"

"Who wants to get wet?"

"Nobody, that's right. But if you need help…" She winks. "Hope's going to tell me anyway. There's no chance she can keep things a secret"

"There is no secret" Christina answers and because I don't trust my voice I just nod. Mrs. Benjamin smiles at us a little sadly, then walks over to her family.

"Wait!" Zane calls after her. "Didn't I tell you to get off that stage?"

"That's exactly what I did. You didn't tell me to get out of here, but I'm going anyways" she yells back, clearly annoyed. She bents down and picks up a little girl, who looks slightly like her, so I guess it's a sister of Hope. Her husband, her son, the girl who is called Rose and some other girl follow her. I didn't know Hope had so many siblings. When Hope walks out she waves at us and yells through the entire café:

"I see you at school! Stay dry! Sorry, I didn't say that"

Christina sighs, bangs her head against the wall and mumbles:

"Why? Why does it have to be her?"

Catherine's POV

When I get home from the café I find my mother waiting for me.

"You've never been out that long" she says a hint of disapproval in her voice.

"Sorry. I told you I went to my friend's birthday party"

"I thought you already celebrated on Mako Island?"

"We did, but this was some kind of an official party" I answer and she nods.

"Catherine, I'm glad you made friends here but we're moving once more" I can't help but stare at her in shock. I never had that much of a problem with moving and leaving everyone behind once more, but I never needed friends. Okay, I don't need the girls, but I feel better with Christina and Louise around. They are good at keeping the secret, I guess.

"We can't move" I say. I can't tell why, honestly not. I should have the wish to get away from this place that turned me into this… thing. I want to get away from my mother's dreams and plans, I suddenly realize. I know that she wishes for me to be a mermaid, I know that I'll fulfill her expectations if I stay here, but at the same time I may also fulfill my dreams, only that one time. I don't want to be a mermaid, hell no, but I want to be on my own. I want to find myself and that's something I just realized.

"Why not?" she asks confused. "Catherine, the last time you had that rebellious phase, you were 13"

I grin when I remember what she's talking about. I was at this really cool school and I had my first crush. I knew that he would never even notice me, but it was enough for me just to look at him.

"We got here a week ago. Don't you think I might want to stay at a place once in a while?"

"I think I started this conversation the wrong way. I've got this once in a lifetime chance that will get us directly into the world of the rich and famous"

"We already are wealthy. I don't think money is everything. Besides, you talked about this place throughout all the years and now I don't even get the chance to explore it. Don't you think that is a little unfair? I like it here mom, just like you" I tell her. It's the truth. I like it here, although nothing will bring me close to the beach ever again. I'm too scared to reveal the secret. Besides, Louise and Christina are cool to hang out with. I never had friends, but those girls are really nice, if there weren't Hope and Lorraine… They are too reckless. If I stay close to them, they will get me into danger. They have to go somehow.

I nod my head. They definitely have to go. I don't know how yet, but I know that I'll do anything to keep myself safe. That's the code to survive in this wrong messed up world were mermaids exist.

"I'm not moving" I tell my mother and turn on my heel to walk out of the room. In the hallway I stretch my arms to enjoy my new-found freedom and confidence. I let all my satisfaction stream out, all of my ambition to make things right. All of my confidence that I'll somehow get rid of everything that bothers me, including Hope and Lorraine. When I touch the vase in the hallway with the palm of my hand, I suddenly feel a cold sensation. Somehow the water in the vase has turned to ice.

Christina's POV

"Hey, baby!" I hear someone call and walk a bit faster. Those guys have been after me since I've left the café. I hate being out all aloe when it's dark. I curse myself for taking a short cut along a deserted street when I knew they were following me.

"Wait up, bitch" I hear the steps coming closer and some evil laughter. Don't turn around, Christina, don't turn around. Walk faster, I tell myself. Someone grabs my arm and spins me around.

"Let go!" I demand, trying to get away from the man who is staring at me. I kick against his leg, but he just laughs.

"Not so fast princess" A few other men approach us. My heart is pounding fast and my breathing starts to get heavier. I'm tempted to scream for help, but no one will hear me. The gang stares at me.

"Want to go somewhere else?" one of the guys asks me. I shake my head and try to pull away once more. They grin. I look around in panic. If I could only reach the nearby canal…

"My boyfriend won't like this" I say, trying to sound confidently and point in a random direction.

"That trick doesn't work on us girlie" The man who is holding me tight says. My hope starts to sink, when I suddenly see a figure coming towards us fast.

"Mom?" I gasp as she steps into the light of a lonely lantern. The gang members stare at her, then someone laughs.

"Two is better than one" he says happily and I can tell that he's licking his lips. Honestly, I don't want to know what's going on in his head. "Get her" he orders and my heart almost stops in shock.

"No, Mom, run!" I scream and step on the feet of the man who is pressing me against his body. He groans surprised and for a brief moment he loosens his grip. That's enough for me to break away and run towards the canal, something they didn't expect. "Get away Mom, I'll be fine!" I yell a last time before I dive into the water. After a few seconds I resurface to see if my mother got away. She's nowhere to be seen, but the gang is still there and one younger guy stares at the canal.

"Needed to cool off because you're just so hot?" he yells and to my horror he takes a run-up to jump into the water. As fast as possible I get underwater again, but I'm not really good at coordinating my tail. Quickly I try to hide behind a bridge pier when I already notice him jumping into the water.

He'll see me! He'll see me in my mermaid form and then everything will be out and over. I start panicking and my childish instincts kick in. I close my eyes and in my head I repeat my mantra. _You can't see me. I'm a part of the ocean. You can't see me. I don't exist. I'm water, salty drops in the deep blue sea. You can't see me. Nobody can._

I feel light. Just like feather that is gently floating through the air. I'm not here. I don't have to open my eyes to see the guy's confused face when he sees exactly nothing. I'm not here. I don't exist. I'm just a part of the ocean and I float away as a calm drift, out into the open sea where I belong.


	15. Weird People

**I had such a horrible week! English test, Chemistry test, Math test... And that keeps going on like that for the next week. But I hope I'll find more time to write then and I'll find inspiration, because I honestly can't write when my thoughts spin around some scoentific problem, that just doesn't work. I just hope you'll like this chapter!  
**

**Sunday**

Lorraine's POV

I open the door to the trailer as quiet as possible. It's past midnight and Terry won't be too happy about the fact that I stay out all night when I'm supposed to meet my mother. Crap. There he is sitting in the dark looking at me angrily.

"How dare you to scare me like that?" he asks, desperately trying to keep his voice low. I guess she's sleeping then. I shrug my shoulders because I don't really have an appropriate excuse.

"Don't know" I answer.

"She was waiting here for you all the time" Hah! Gotcha liar!

"She was at the beach" I protest. "I talked to her"

"Really? She didn't tell me" he answers not really believing me.

"Well, I didn't walk over to her and was all like: 'Hey, I'm your daughter!'" I roll my eyes at him.

"Yep, that's something she definitely didn't tell me" I hear a voice. The woman for sure knows how to sneak up on someone. Terry jumps.

"Rikki" he then says, just to say at least one word, while she just keeps staring at me and I stare at her. I should probably try to smile or something. I mean, I feel like smiling but I just can't get my facial expression to change. It's absolutely and completely frozen. Damn, I already talked to her, so I should be over this now.

"You stare at me" I finally state triumphantly. "Who is the creep now?"

"Oh gosh" she turns away and bangs her head against the wall. She's the creep. Definitely.

"Rikki, are you okay?" Terry asks concerned.

"I'm awesome. It's just…" She mumbles something into the wall I don't understand.

"Huh?" Terry asks. "Why?"

"Just… because" She answers and he gives me an apologetic look. I hate it when someone is clearly talking about me and I don't understand a single word. That makes me feel… I can't describe it. Not ignored or something, more some kind of helpless. Like someone knows a lot more about myself than I do and I can't do anything against it. It's definitely not a nice feeling. I wonder what she said, if it made Terry feel sorry for me. I guess it wasn't actually nice and that hurts as much as an arrow that plunges right into the softest corner of my heart. Into the part of myself I tend to ignore most of the time.

"I'm out of here" I say quickly and get out of the door before anyone can stop me.

Outside, I take a deep breath. I'm running away for the second time and that's really something I shouldn't do. If I'm brave I'll just go back in there. I turn around and look at the trailer thoughtfully. That's my home. My family. I shouldn't leave them once more. Terry has been left often enough. First his wife then his daughter… Even if I don't go back for my mother I can go back for him.

"I thought it over" I say as I push the door open. The two figures in the dark stare at me in silence as I walk around them into the room where I sleep. My mother's room. We'll probably have to sleep in the same bed. I take my clothes off and find myself some sweatpants to sleep in without turning the light on. Then I lay down, waiting for her.

She slips into the room as silent as a ghost. Her light hair and her pale face seem to shine in the little light that comes through the window. Now she really seems like an angel to me. Or a ghost. I can't decide. She gets into the bed next to me. I make room for her, but can't avoid touching her warm skin. She lays here with open eyes, keeping them glued to the ceiling. I study her face carefully, like I did so often. But now it's full of life, she doesn't look like a doll anymore. I wonder what she'd look like if he smiled.

"Now you're the creep again" she whispers without tearing her glance away from the ceiling.

"I know" I whisper back. She chuckles. I should probably find some metaphor for the sound, something like: 'Her laughter sounds like ringing silver bells', but I'm not really a poet.

"That's awkward" she eventually says. "What I just said to Dad, you're too old to be my daughter. I feel like I'm 22, not 38. I don't think we'll ever have some kind of a mother-daughter relationship. Hell, I wasn't even ready for a baby when I had you and now I have a teenage-daughter. That's just wrong"

Hard words. But in a way they make sense to me. If I was her I would have reacted just like that. If I had the guts to talk to my own daughter. I can be a coward sometimes.

"Yep" I say, because I don't know what else I could do. Then we just lay there in silence.

* * *

As soon as the sun rises I get up. I didn't sleep one bit and I know she was awake too. I get dressed as fast as possible. Then I dug through the pockets of the pants I was wearing yesterday and pull out the locket. It glistens in the light of the early morning.

"You found it?" I hear my mother ask from the bed.

"Yes. I hope you're not angry because I gave the other two away?" I ask and turn around to face her. She looks a little sad for a second, but then says:

"No it's okay"

"Good. I gave them to my best friends if that cheers you up" I tell her, because I know that the lockets symbolize friendship. Okay, Catherine is not really what I would consider a friend, definitely not, but we spent time together. Well, we didn't have a choice. But that's nothing my mother needs to know. I just hope she's none of those mommies who watch their daughters every move. At least she doesn't look like someone who would make me compete in stupid beauty pageants. When I imagine that stupid Mrs. Bennett as my mother instead… Pure pain, honestly.

"Yes, I didn't have any use for them anymore, so I guess it's okay"

"Awesome" Then I remember what the others said about getting information. I'm not really good at this kind of things, but I can give it a try. "Where did you get them from?" I ask.

"Bought them" she answers and I sigh. She's not that easy to get information from, because I bet she's way better than the other girl's mothers at hiding emotions and at lying to my face.

"Okay. I'm off to my friend's house" I inform her. Well, actually that's not really the truth. I'm going to swim. The ocean got me hooked. Especially since this really weird thing happened yesterday. I just think I had something to do with that lamp exploding, so I have to try it out. It would be so cool if being a mermaid came with special abilities. Slowly I'm starting to agree with Hope that being a mermaid is pretty awesome. I wonder if she's awake yet…

Catherine's POV

I like to get up early. It's efficient. Not as hot as throughout the day and everything is quiet and there are barely people on the beach. I take out my paper and pencils. Drawing is something you have to practice but in the last days I didn't find the time to. That's why this morning is so perfect. A deserted beach… no not deserted. There's this girl.

It's Lorraine. Great, she only has to show up and my perfect morning is ruined. My hand wanders to the necklace around my neck. I honestly don't know why I keep wearing it. Maybe it's to honor my grandmother and my Mum, to honor mermaids…

Who am I kidding? I hate mermaids. I hate the sea; I always have since it took my father away. I fear the ocean and the great force of its waves. And now I'm connected to it. Something went majorly wrong here. Here I am, drawing the thing I detest, and watching a girl who is connected to me in a strange way. We share the same fate, but still are so different. Someone in heaven must have pulled a prank on me. A mean prank. Why would I be cursed with this? Why me? I just want to live a decent life, become successful, because I know I can do it and maybe get married someday, have a nice house, a dog… No dogs are dirty. But somehow there's always a dog in my dreams… But who cares about dreams, right? Only the things you make happen are the things that count.

Dreams are useless. They make you imagine impossible things and then leave you with a shattered hope for something you couldn't get from the very first start. When I was younger I often dreamt that my father wasn't dead, that maybe he was just trapped in a cave or kidnapped by pirates and that he'd defeat them and came back to me and my mother. See, dreams are not helping. That's what I realized when he didn't come back, when I stood at this empty grave because his body wasn't found. The cruel sea left us with our hands empty. Nothing to say goodbye to.

I snap out of my thoughts and scan the beach with my eyes. Lorraine is nowhere to be seen, I guess she's swimming, but my peace has gone with her too. I look at the picture I drew, almost without noticing. Mako Island. That horrible island that still got a magical effect on me. I wonder what happened yesterday when I turned this water into ice. It kept me awake the entire night. I analyzed the event over and over and came to the conclusion that it must have been me who caused the transformation. I hate to admit it, but I have magical powers. Of course I'll be only sure when I tried it out once more, but I for sure won't. I don't need any more weird things in my life. But I guess I should talk to someone about it like… Louise. She seems nice. Smart, but not smarter than me like Christina is, interested in science… She's the perfect match.

I gather my things and get up. I wonder if she's already awake, because I want to get over with this.

* * *

"That's what I thought" Louise says and nods. "When Lorraine pulled this thing yesterday…"

"Yes" I agree a little pissed. I have a problem with having powers but I even have a bigger one with not being the only one with powers.

"I'll call Christina" the girl in front of me announces.

"Why? She's probably sleeping" I'm good with sitting on Louise's bed and just talking to her. I don't need Christina right now. It probably sounds selfish, but I want her for my own right now.

"Then we'll just wake her up. This is pretty important" Louise says and grabs her cell phone. She dials Christina's number but the girl doesn't pick up.

"I told you she'd be sleeping"

"Yes, perhaps. But still… I don't like that"

"What? That she doesn't like to be reached 24/7? She's independent" I answer although I got a feeling that Christina belongs to the people who always carry their phone with them. I shrug it off. What could have happened to her? When I think about it, a lot could have gone wrong. World is a dangerous place and the first danger that always comes to my mind is drowning. But that's nothing a mermaid should be afraid of, right? I laugh sarcastically when I notice for the first time that this is an advantage of being a mythical creature. I don't have to be afraid of water. I can go in there and nothing will happen to me… I don't have to fear anything. I won't drown, not like my father.

I start to laugh hysterical. Louise looks at me like I've gone crazy.

"Are you okay?" she asks looking a little frightened.

"I won't drown!" I answer between the sobs that suddenly start to build in my throat. "I won't drown" I cry. And laugh at the confused look on her face. She can't understand; Christina is the only friend I ever told about my Dad's accident. And now she has gone missing. I crawl off Louise's bed.

"We have to find her" I croak out, feeling guilty. I walk out of the room and bump into Louise's little brother.

"You're crazy" he states and I'm not even in the state to protest. I think I'm having a mental breakdown or something like that.

"Yes!" I giggle. "Absolutely and definitely crazy"

"Can I study you? The human psyche is a fascinating topic" he asks completely serious.

"I know! People are just so easy to control, by using simple tricks!" I answer. What the hell? Am I on drugs or something? It's like I'm going completely insane.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" the little boy asks interested. I giggle and nod. Louise who just stepped out into the hallway lays an arm around my shoulder and pushes me back into her room gently.

"Catherine, I think you need to rest" she makes me lay on her bed and grabs her cell phone once more. Christina's still not answering. Louise shakes her head in confusion, then decides to call Lorraine and Hope. I hope they are not coming here, because I don't want them to see me like this. I don't. Or do I?


	16. Talk about it

Hope's POV

"Huh?" I groan into my phone. I can hear someone crying and laughing like crazy.

"Hope! Can you come over like right now? I've got Catherine here and she's freaking out completely!" I hear a panicking voice.

"Louise?" I ask when I finally figure out who the voice belongs to. I'm slow in the morning.

"Yes! Can you come over? Please?"

"Sure. On my way" I answer and throw my phone on the bed. I stand up and walk over to my closet to pull out some random top and a skirt. Quickly I get dressed and sneak out of the room. Judging by the silence and my constant yawning, it's early in the morning. A look at the clock could help figuring out, but right now I don't really know where we have a clock. I've been living in this house all my life and I don't know if there's a clock. Is that weird?

"Where are you going?" someone asks. I roll my eyes. I love my siblings, definitely do, but I can't use Rose right now. I turn around to meet her eyes.

"Don't you want to go to bed again?" I ask a little helpless.

"No. Mom said you had a secret"

"What?" I ask confused.

"I overheard her talking to Dad yesterday. She said that you and your friends have a secret. And Dad agreed. What does it have to do with water?"

I chew on my lower lip. Would it be so bad if she knew? She's just a little girl and she's absolutely loyal. Besides nobody would believe her if she told anyone…

"Promise not to tell?" I ask unsure.

"Pinky promise" she grins as I bent down to her. She's almost as tall as me since she's already ten, but only almost.

"Okay" I whisper. "I'm a mermaid"

"Are you sure?" Rose asks skeptically.

"Absolutely. But don't tell anyone, am I clear?" I ask and pinch her nose.

"Absolutely clear captain" she salutes. "But I think you might be crazy"

"What else is new?" I ask and walk out of the door. "Oh, can you do me a favor? If Mom and Dad ask where I am, can you tell them I'm at a friend's place?"

"Marc's?"

"Yes, tell them that" I quickly say. I just need to call him to make sure he doesn't stop by the way he usually does on Sunday mornings after he went to church with his parents.

"Isn't he usually spending the Sunday morning with his parents?" Rose asks. Why does her memory have to be perfect? "Do you have a boyfriend? Rick will kill him when I tell him!" she grins and disappears into Rick's room. I better get going before he starts to interrogate me.

* * *

"She's been like this for half an hour now" Louise says helpless.

"Hmmmmm…" I look at the crying girl. "How does she breathe?" I wonder but Louise only gives me a look. "Sorry" I mumble.

"Piss off" Catherine says in between two sobs.

"Well, at least she reacted" Louise shrugs embarrassed as I look at the girl speechlessly.

"Yeah, that's good I guess. Catherine, don't you like me? At least a little?" I ask nervously. Normally I just don't like fights and have not really that much of a problem when I'm not friends with someone as long as this person acts slightly politely. But Catherine… She should be my friend I think. My hand automatically wanders to the locket around my neck. Friendship and loyalty.

"I don't know!" she cries.

"What the fuck happened to you?" I hear a voice from the door. Rainy leans in the doorframe; her arms crossed and stares at the bed. Catherine starts to cry even harder. This is really scaring me now.

"She's crying" I say calmly because it's the first thing that comes to my mind.

"No, shit. What's going on with her?"

"I won't die! And I hate you!" Catherine sobs.

"Hate you too, sweetie. But I bet I could kill you if I wanted to" Rainy grins and sits down on the bed. She strokes Catherine's messed-up hair back and looks so caring it's pretty weird.

"Go away. You don't understand" Catherine laughs coldly. I shudder at the sound. "I want Christina" she then demands.

"I can't reach her!" Louise answers. "I just get my parents okay? Stay still!" she says nervously and walks out of the room, right into her little brother who was eavesdropping. Rainy looks after her and as soon as Louise is out of sight, she slaps Catherine across the face. I stare at her in shock.

"Rainy! How could you?" I whine and rush to Catherine to examine her red cheek. She stares at me with watery eyes but her sobbing stopped.

"It worked pretty well. She's not going all crazy on us anymore" Rainy shrugs.

"Yeah…" Catherine lays a hand on her cheek. "Thank you. I needed that I guess" She sounds like Sina when someone caught her stealing cookies.

"It's okay" I try to cheer her up. "Everyone needs to go a bit crazy once in a while"

"Definitely not. I apologize for my behavior" she answers stiffly.

"You don't have to be ashamed" I say.

"Yep. You gave me a reason to hit you, which made my day!" Rainy smirks.

"Rainy! Shut up or apologize!" I say.

"No way!"

"Oh you will" I try to make my voice sound threatening.

"Make me!" she mocks me, with a spark in her eyes.

"Do it now, or I'll tickle you"

"Tickle me? What are we, five?"

She squeals as I start to tickle her. Quickly she tries to shove me away, but we just end up falling on the bed together.

"You are just so childish" Catherine shakes her head at us and wipes the last tears on her cheek.

"Okay Louise, what's going on?" We hear a voice from the door. I quickly sit up.

"Good morning Mr. McCartney. Don't worry we're fine" I say still giggling.

"Yes. Fine" Rainy says and gasps for breath. Her entire face is red from laughing. I can't help but giggle a little more.

"Teenage girls" Mr. McCartney sighs, then walks out again.

Christina's POV

My legs are shaking as they finally reappear. I try to walk but it takes its time until I'm able to move normally.

I look back at the sea, still thinking about everything that happened. I literally disappeared. I was water. Water and energy. It's impossible, but still true. When I was a part of the sea, I felt as if I belonged there. It felt… right. I think I started to forget everything. For a second I couldn't even remember my father's face. He must be so worried because I stayed away all night. And if Mom talked to him and told him about the encounter with the gang… I just hope she's okay.

Quickly I check my phone. Missed calls from Mom, Dad and Louise. What could she want so early in the morning? Her house is on the way, so I guess I could stop by.

* * *

"Christina!" Louise says happily as she opens the door. "I was so worried! Come in, we are having a meeting right now" She pushes me into the living room, where I find Hope, Catherine and Lorraine.

"Hey" I say into the awkward silence.

"You had us horribly worried. Well, mostly Louise" Hope grins.

"Yes! What happened? You ignored my calls!" Louise asks and looks at me. "You seem exhausted, are you okay?"

"Yesterday… There were these guys" I say. I'm not really comfortable talking about it, but they have to know, I think "I jumped into the canal to get away from them, but one of them came after me, so I wished to disappear. And that's what I did"

"You disappeared? Like turning invisible?" Lorraine asks confused.

"No, I think I turned into water"

"Water?" Catherine echoes as they stare at me. "What do you mean?"

"Well… water" I try to explain. "I… I don't know. Suddenly I had this weird feeling. It was like a sense inside of me took over"

"Your feelings and emotions" Catherine completes my thoughts. "I had that yesterday"

She points at the glass with a little water left in it and it immediately turns into ice.

"Woah" Louise says and takes the glass. "That's…" she licks on the frozen water. "Ice. Definitely ice"

"Do you think we all can do something like that? Like, what I did to this lamp yesterday, I mean, I think I did that" Lorraine rambles.

"Well, if it was an experiment, I'd just say you do exactly what you did then" Louise suggests.

"You want me to get really angry?"

"No, not really. But you need to let out your feelings, right Catherine, Christina?" Hope orders.

"Okay" Lorraine nods and closes her eyes. A few seconds they shoot open again. "Nothing"

"You have no feelings? That's horrible!" Hope says a little shocked.

"I do have feelings but there's nothing happening"

"You made a fist" I remember when I replay the scene in my head. "Try that. But slow moves please"

"Whatever" Lorraine focuses on the ice. Suddenly there is steam building over the glass and the water starts to melt and bubble.

"Okay, stop" Louise orders.

I can't help but stretch out my hand for the steam. Water! I'm obsessed with water. I close my eyes and concentrate. Invisible. Light as a feather. I hear a few gasps.

"Christina?" Louise asks with her eyes wide open. I want to nod, but then realize, that I'm fully consisting of steam. I'm a cloud with a slightly human shape.

"That's so cool!" Hopes squeals. "Do you think she can hear us?"

"I don't know. That's…" Catherine shakes her head, running out of words. I quickly concentrate on the firm ground. I don't want to drift away and I already noticed that concentrating on something earthy keeps me together, just like when I was in the water. Slowly the steam seems to get solid and after a few minutes I gain my human form back. My legs shake and I sink on the couch next to Hope.

"That was scary" Catherine takes in a shaky breath. "I'm just glad that I got slightly normal powers"

They all stare at me like I'm a ghost. Probably because I'm the closest thing to a ghost they ever saw.


	17. Liar

**I hope this chapter didn't turn out to be too boring, but I really wanted to give Louise some background story. I also wanted to clear up Hope's and Marc's relationship, because I plan for him to be in the story a lot more. What do you think about that?**

**Monday**

Louise's POV

I sigh as I walk into the classroom. Christina is sitting on her usual table looking annoyed because Cody keeps stroking her thigh. But when she sees me walking in she quickly turns to him and starts a make-out-session. What is going on with her? She seems to ignore me completely.

Hope is talking to Marc, Lorraine looks out of the window and looks like she's thinking deeply. Catherine is sitting all by herself, scrabbling something into her folder.

"Hi" I say as I sit down next to her. She closes her folder quickly, but I already saw that she was drawing a girl. I never knew she was an artist.

"Hey" she answers and looks down, while chewing on her lower lip. She seems tense. Nervous.

"What's the matter?" I ask curiously.

"Huh? No, no everything is fine"

"Come on, tell me!" I beg. She looks like she is hiding something.

"I can't" she whispers and looks around terrified.

"Of course you can" I encourage her.

"It's… it's… Lorraine"

"Lorraine?" I echo confused and look over to the dark-haired girl. She's still staring outside, looking like she's anywhere but here. "Lorraine?"

"She threatened me" Catherine whispers with terror in her voice. "She told me to beware of lightning and thunderstorms if I won't give her the locket back! I would give it to her, but I can't! My Mom would be so incredibly sad"

I stare at her in shock. Would Lorraine do such a thing? I barely know her, but I know that she's sarcastic and not really caring, sometimes she can be really selfish. But would she really do that? Maybe her mother made her… Still, I can't imagine her threatening Catherine. Maybe she was just being ironic. Or she made a joke.

"I'll talk to her" I promise. Catherine looks terrified.

"No, no, please don't. It's fine" she quickly says.

I look at her and nod. She's acting weird. Maybe… maybe she's lying. But then again, why would she lie? We are dependant on Lorraine in some way. We have to trust each other. But I don't think I can trust them. I trust Christina. At least when she's not with that jerkface over there. And Hope… Well, I don't think she's something who keeps secrets or would lie to me. She just leaves things out because she doesn't think they are important. But Catherine and Lorraine… they are a whole different story. Catherine got something about her that makes me suspicious and Lorraine is not really the most open person. I barely know anything about her, besides the fact that her mother was friends with my parents. She's mysterious…

"What are you staring at?" she suddenly yells at me.

"Oh. Sorry" Great. Now she's pissed. I was just looking at her! What's wrong with looking at someone? I wasn't stalking her or something…

"She'll hurt you in some way, I know it" Catherine whispers into my ear. She's getting a little paranoid.

"No, she won't" I say, but I'm not that sure. Actually I think my knees feel a little weak as I walk over to her. "Hey guys"

"Hi!" Hope chirps. "Say hi, Marc"

"Hhmmm" he grumbles, but it doesn't sound rude or something. Hope giggles and kisses his cheek. They are so tight, I honestly wonder if there's more than friendship between the two of them.

"Hi" I say shyly and look at him. He grumbles once more. "Okay, Lorraine, I need to talk to you" I say.

"Why?"

"Catherine said you threatened her" She looks at me surprised, then thinks about it.

"Something must have slipped out" she finally answers like it's nothing to worry about.

"Well, she's scared" I say carefully, just to figure out how'll she react.

"Sure" Lorraine scoffs.

"No, really"

"Why would she always expect the worst form people?" Hope asks confused. "She's odd, don't you think?"

I look back at Catherine who is staring at us, but as soon as our glances meet she looks down. She's hiding something. But she didn't exactly lie; Lorraine confessed that she threatened her…

"Why do you want the locket back anyway?" I ask.

"What?" Lorraine asks confused.

"Nothing" I say quickly. "Absolutely nothing. I just can't believe I almost fell for her lie"

"Lie?" Hope asks. "Maybe it was just a misunderstanding"

"Misunderstanding?" Lorraine laughs bitterly. "No. there's not such a thing like misunderstandings when we're talking about Catherine Watsford. She's a bitch"

"Lorraine!" I say a little shocked. Of course, I'm not really happy about the fact that she lied, but that doesn't give Lorraine the right to be so negative. Catherine definitely has her nice sides, something I haven't discovered in Lorraine yet. "She's not that bad!"

"If you think so… But you also are friends with little Miss Dove who doesn't seem to give a damn about you, because sucking faces with her boyfriend is so much more important than saying hi to you, her so called friend!"

"But… but…" I run out of words. Lorraine's words uncovered all of my fears. I've been betrayed by my friends before, was ignored all of the sudden. And I betrayed them. "Just shut up!" I finally say. Normally I'm not the type who says this kind of stuff without telling the reason but right now I'm just mad. Mad at her for bringing it up, mad at me for some weird reason and mad at Christina. I grab my bag and make my way out of the classroom. Hope calls after me, but I ignore her. When I pass Christina she looks up and there's a hint of sadness and regret in her eyes. I don't know what made her ignore me, but I can see that she's sorry. Problem: I don't care right now.

I make my way to the bathroom to cry. Cliché, I know. But where else should I go?

I stare into a mirror, then turn the water on. Risky, me being in a public bathroom, close to water. Maybe I won't turn into a mermaid… Maybe it was just a dream and it's over now… I reach for the water that is still streaming into the sink. It seems like I attract it, because it comes closer faster then I reach for it.

I gasp and concentrate. I'm excited and frightened at the same time as the water suddenly forms a little bubble that flies through the room. I laugh and play with it just like a little kid plays with a ball. It's just so easy! Like I've never done anything else. It comes naturally.

Suddenly, someone opens the bathroom door. I jump a little and the bubble falls on the floor.

"Oh! That was so pretty!" Hope squeals. I sigh in relief.

"You scared me. I thought you were someone human" Wow. That sounds weird. Someone human. As if we weren't human.

"Nope. Am not. I'm a freaking mystical creature. So you found your powers?" she gives me a hug. "Congrats. Now all of you guys can do something" she says.

"Oh. I'm sorry you don't have a power yet" I quickly say. Poor girl. She's the one who is the most excited about being a mermaid, but doesn't have any special abilities. But I guess, she is going to develop them sooner or later. I mean, there must be something special she can do, right?

"It's okay" she smiles a little. "So are we telling the others? But I have to pee first. You wait for me?"

"Yeah, yeah sure" I answer a little taken off-guard.

"Awesome" she disappears into one of the stalls. "Are you angry at Rainy?"

"Rainy? Oh, you mean Lorraine, right?"

"Yep. But you could call her Rainy too, I don't think she would mind. Are you angry at her or not?"

"No, I don't think so… It's just that she was so right. Christina ignored me although we share this huge secret and I had a feeling that we are good friends. I've been betrayed by my friends before, you know? But I think I've been worse than them…" I don't know why the words come so easy, but I feel like I can tell her everything that's bothering me.

"When I was younger I had this really amazing friend, Hailey. I knew her since kindergarten and nothing could separate us. We were like sisters. We used to do everything together. We loved the same things, both of us dreamed of being a dancer when we were little and we used to practice a lot. Really, I've never seen two five-year-old girls doing that with the same passion. We kept practicing and dancing and took lessons and everything. You could say we were basically obsessed. I always knew I never had her talent. But I didn't care and she didn't care.

Then at the end of Middle School we took part in a competition. I was one of the worst competitors, while she was runner-up. The girl who won, Jessica, was a fake blonde who used to dress up like a twenty-year-old slut. Sorry, but it's true. She was going to be at the same High School we would go to. And she was totally excited about Hailey being her new side-kick. But for me there was no room in her little popular group. I was a loser and my Dad was a scientist which made me a nerd-baby, that's what she used to call me. Well, Hailey didn't want to join her stupid popular group. But then there was this boy and she wanted to make a good impression so she stared to hang out with Jessica and… you get the point, don't you? But that was not that bad.

I used to dress a little different back then. I was too shy to wear the stuff I wear now. But then Hailey decided to give me a make-over, so we could hang out again. It worked perfectly fine. Suddenly I was the most popular girl at school. And the most bitchy one. I don't know why I changed, but I did. I was mean and one day I took the boy Hailey really liked away from her. So she brought me down. With all the dirty tricks of a true bitch-fight"

I take in a deep breath. It felt good to tell someone. Even if it's just someone I barely know. But Hope is a friend, right?

"Wow" Hope flushes the toilet. "Sounds like a bad American teen-movie. You know, something with cheerleaders"

"Well, but it is true"

"Gosh, I'm just so glad I never lived in girlie-world. That's why I'm who I am. Hanging with anyone I want to hang with, preferring really cool people like Marc"

"Yeah, about that" I say curiously. "Is there more between the two of you? Are you just friends or…"

"Marc is my soul mate, there's no doubt. But we are definitely not a couple. We're one and the same and we have to go separate ways, so we won't get to dependant on each other"

"Huh?" I ask confused. To be honest I didn't get what she was trying to tell me.

"Marc and I both see life as magical. I see it as a circle of life, as beautiful and enjoyable. I like to live it its fullest. I enjoy random stuff, for example the way sunlight shines through the branches of a tree and paints patterns on the ground. To me, everything is full of joy and life is supposed to be something to share with everyone around the world because all of us are connected.

To Marc, life is the preparation for death. Death and eternity, that's what we all wait for. We are just damned to live here for a brief moment and then we'll get blown away like dust, leaving no trace in this world. That's why we search for something else, something eternal. We can see eternity in the dignity of the mountains, although we know it won't exist anymore, in a few million years. We can feel eternity when we love, when we are feeling lust and pain. But everything's only a reflection of what's about to come. We all have to find our way alone, have to find ourselves.

See, Marc is my opposite twin. We are so close, we can't help but love each other at any cost, but at the same time we know that we'll never be together, because there are all those differences. Our love is unconditional, but we'll never be lovers. We are too close, too dependant on each other. Twins. Two sides of the same idea.

Romantic love is exciting and dangerous. That's something completely different"

"Okay" I say, because I don't exactly know what else to say. That was quite confusing.

Hope giggles and grabs my hand.

"Do you think we could hook up Rainy and Marc? I think he has a thing for her"


	18. The Murder of Sophie Benjamin

**I probably won't write any new chapters in the next time because Easter is coming up and we'll get the house full of visitors, including little cousins who will want me to pay attention to them all the time. But I'll enjoy being with my family nevertheless! And I will of course try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, I just can't promise anything. Besides you guys might be busy over Easter too! I for my part will eat tons of chocolate and eggs and have some fights with my cousins and my Uncles. **

**Happy Easter!  
**

** Tuesday**

Catherine's POV

My mother already organized everything for us moving away from here. Why can't we stay? At least a little longer? I need the girls, I freaking need them! I'm going crazy all by myself, I can tell.

I walk into school with my head down. If I'm lucky someone will come up to me and ask what's wrong and then I get to tell my sad story once more.

"Hey. What's up with you?" I hear a perky voice. Great. I wish for something and get it but just not the right person.

"I'm fine Hope" I say in an explaining tone.

"No, you're not. Your aura is dark"

"I don't believe that I have an aura"

"But you believe in mermaids, don't you?" she giggles slightly.

"Their existence is proven to us now" I answer annoyed.

"Are you sure? Maybe they just exist in your head. Maybe the entire world just exists in your head or maybe you're just the product of a divine thought. Maybe we all are just the characters of a novel and someone else is writing our story down and puts those word into my mouth" she answers.

"I'm not in the mood for philosophy. I know what I know and nothing will take my knowledge away from me" That's my motto.

"Really? Imagine there is a tree in the forest and it falls down while you were sleeping" she says.

"So?" Where is this going? There's honestly more important stuff than trees now.

"Has the tree made a noise when it fell down?" Hope asks.

"Of course"

"How would you know? You were asleep"

"Everything makes a noise when it falls down"

"You know that from the experiences you made. But if you never made an experience, if you never saw an atom, would you still know it existed?"

"Well, yes"

"Why?"

"Someone told me. Someone proved it" I answer her. I still don't get what she wants to tell me.

"And if I told you that you have an aura?" she grins. Oh, here we go again.

"There is not such a thing as auras!"

"How do you want to know? You believe in things you never saw and you believe in experiences. Why can't you believe in auras then? You can't know if I saw or felt your aura. You can't know if the tree made a noise when it fell down"

"Of course I know"

"No. Who told you? Maybe it didn't make a noise. Maybe everything just exists as long as someone looks at it. Would that mean it just exists in our mind? Would that mean there is not such a thing as reality?" Hope asks and looks at me as if she expects an answer from me.

"You give me a headache" I tell her. She giggles.

"Fine. Well, what's your problem?"

"What?" I ask confused. She changes the topics way too fast for me. "Oh, right. I was just…" I can't think of an excuse. The girl caught me by surprise. "I'm moving" I finally admit with clenched teeth. She stares at me and I enjoy the feeling that I got her speechless at least once in my life. Then she hugs me. I gasp for air. She's pretty strong.

* * *

I'm in a bad mood when I come home. Hope told everyone that I'm moving. Christina didn't seem to care, Louise whined about it being so horrible and Lorraine seemed to be kind of happy about it. We are never ever going to get along, I can promise that. But I wish for it. Why? I don't know. I don't know anything anymore.

I step into the house. My mother doesn't seem to be home. I find a note on the table.

_I have a meeting with a possible customer. Money is on the table, there's a Chinese restaurant close by. I'm sure you'll find it._

_Love, Mu__m_

I sigh and look around. Another lonely day in an empty house. Normally I enjoy it when everything is quiet but today I just don't feel like being alone. Hope gave me her phone number today, she seems to think we are the best friends now. If I called her… Before I can finish my own thoughts I already dialed her number.

"Yes?" she answers her phone.

"Oh. Hi. It's Catherine" I stutter.

"Hey! Rick, get your sword away from my neck!"

"What?" I ask confused.

"Oh, nothing!" she laughs. "Just babysitting my siblings"

"Oh, okay. You can't come over then?" I ask.

She sighs.

"No. But I can call Rainy if you want me to"

"No!" I quickly say, but it's too late. She already hung up on me. I sigh and flip myself on the couch. Lorraine won't actually show up here, right?

* * *

The door bell rings. I get up from the couch to answer the door and to my surprise it really is Lorraine. She gives me a nod, then just walks inside. I close the door behind her and turn around.

"Can I get you something to drink?" I offer because politeness is always the best way to talk to visitors even if they weren't really invited.

"Why did you want to see me?" she asks.

"Excuse me?" I ask.

She rolls her eyes.

"I asked why you wanted to see me"

"I…" I don't exactly know an answer. She nods.

"Whatever. You have a nice house. Would be a good place for a party"

"A party?" What's with me and dumb questions today? I watch her walk over to the shelf with the CD's.

"Do you have real music?" she asks after she scanned the titles.

"That is real music" I say. She can't just walk in here and think she can criticize my taste in music. "It's jazz and classic. Timeless"

"Old–fashioned"

"Do you think you can judge that? Last music lesson… you didn't seem to be into the subject" I say and hope she'll get the hint. We had to sing and she was not singing but hurting my ears. It was absolutely horrible. More than that. It was pure torture. Since Lorraine doesn't answer I finally ask: "Do you want to go to the Chinese restaurant to have some lunch?"

* * *

The restaurant is loaded with people. There's not a single table left, but my Mom called to meet us here, so we have to stay. Finally I decide to ask an elderly couple if we can sit with them. Lorraine isn't to keen about the idea, but I think that elderly people are better than the company of some Punks and a chick that smells like smoke. Or a family with a puking kid… Does anyone come here these days? Where we lived before, the Chinese restaurant was quiet and comfortable. This place is far from that but Lorraine looks completely satisfied.

I walk over to the couple.

"Excuse me, but could we sit with you?" I ask politely.

"Sure! Sit down sweetie, sit down!" the woman says and pats the seat next to her. I smile at her than wave for Lorraine to come over. She rolls her eyes but even mutters a 'hello' as she sits down. The man laughs.

"Not talkative, your friend, huh?" he asks.

"No" I force a smile. She's not my friend.

"Oh look! They even have matching lockets" the woman squeals and reaches for Lorraine's locket, but she leans away from her.

"Yes, we are really awesome friends" I lie and kick Lorraine's leg. She gives me death glare.

"Awesome" she mumbles. The old lady nods and gives me an almost toothless smile.

"I've seen the locket before, somewhere" the old man says thoughtfully. "I think it was at work"

"He was a police man" his wife says proudly and strokes his arm. He looks like he's drooling over me. Nervously I pull on my blouse trying to cover myself up a little more. Lorraine laughs at me.

"I've got it" he suddenly yells. I jump.

"Got what?" Lorraine asks, now a little more interested.

"I interrogated a girl with a locket like that once. It was my last case… A murder. Some of my colleagues believed it was suicide, but that's not true. It was murder. Sophie Benjamin was killed, no doubt"

"Sophie Benjamin…" I repeat. Wasn't Hope's last name Benjamin too?

"Would you tell us more about it?" Lorraine asks. So she noticed it too. The old man doesn't hesitate. He seems happy to tell someone.

"The victim was Sophie Benjamin. She was 24 years old when she died. Or was she 25? I don't remember. Well, we found her dead body on Mako Island"

"Mako Island" Lorraine repeats stunned.

"Yes. We searches over there because the last time she was seen she was in a boat with some guy called Ryan. I forgot his last name. He was the main suspect"

"Who were the other suspects?" I ask. I only knew one Ryan and that was my father but he was one of the nicest persons I ever knew. Sometimes I wondered how he got along with my mother. "Do you remember?"

"Of course young lady!" he laughs. "Ryan's wife, Charlotte"

I gulp, the thoughts running wild in my head.

"Who else?" Lorraine asks.

"The woman with the locket, Emma Dove. 5 months pregnant. Her husband Ash Dove. Cleo McCartney, 7 months pregnant. Her husband Lewis McCartney. Rikki Chadwick. Zane Bennett. The victim's brother, Will Benjamin. His girlfriend Isabella Hartley. I don't know why she was on the suspects list; she gave birth later the night when the murder happened, so it for sure wasn't her"

"Can you tell us more about it? How did Sophie Benjamin die? What did the suspects say? What else did you find out? ", Lorraine rants.

The man laughs.

"Why so interested?"

"We… know the suspects" I answer, not sure how much I can tell him.

"Really?" he asks, "Well then…"

"Nothing then" his wife interrupts him. "We have to go dear. Did you forget that our daughter is waiting for us?"

"Oh, right. Sorry girls. But I think I could organize for you to listen to the tapes with the interrogation" he offers.

"Is that legal?" I ask unsure, but Lorraine kicks my leg. "Ow" I whine but quickly shut up when I see the look on her face.

"Awesome. Tomorrow?" she asks.

Lorraine's POV

„Want to go for a swim?" I ask Catherine. I'm not really keen on her company but I can ask her, right?

"No!" she stares at me so shocked that I can't help but laugh.

"Is little Cathy scared?" I ask.

"No, I just don't want to get wet" she says but I can tell that she's panicking.

"I would dry you"

"And accidentally set me on fire? No. No way, sorry" she rambles.

"Okay. You for sure would've found a way to annoy me, even under the sea when you can't talk" I shrug and walk away.

"Where are you going?" she yells after me.

"Swimming!" I answer.

"Don't forget to pay for the food tomorrow!"

"Whatever!" She kept reminding me the whole way home. Her mother didn't show up at the restaurant so she felt responsible to take care of that. I still can't believe I managed to spend time with her without ripping her head off.

If Hope hadn't been threatening to call me every minute if I won't keep her company I would never have gone to see her. But it's good I did because we found out about this killed girl. Hope's aunt. I wonder if Hope knows about the whole story. She would have told us if she did. She keeps talking and talking and talking… And is only half as annoying as Catherine. Of course I prefer people that don't talk at all. Like Marc. He's a freak, that's for sure, but there's something about him… And he's hot. He won't admit it but I've never been into the common type of boys. I prefer Marc's sensible hands and his tall but slim figure over the looks of any tanned, muscular jock. Like Cody. Seriously, how can someone be so stupid? How can Christina ruin her friendship with Louise for that guy? Someone needs to talk to her.

Speaking of the devil… there she is, with some really old lady, sitting on the beach. Should I walk over? I could just disappear before she sees me… too late. Christina looks directly at me. I sigh as I make my way over to them.

"Hi" I greet.

"Hey" Christina answers and I have to admit she doesn't seem so pleased about my sudden appearance. The old lady just stares at me. She's creepy. I wave at her but she doesn't answer. Does she ever talk?

"Your locket"

Okay, yes, she talks.

"Uhm…" I look at Christina because I don't know what to say.

"I'm Louise Chatham. That locket you have there…"

"It was my Mom's. Rikki" I answer. The old lady smiles sadly.

"Christina told me about you. You're Lorraine, aren't you?"

"Yes" I answer and glare at Christina. I can introduce myself very well. I don't need her running around and telling random people my name.

"Sorry" she mumbles obviously understanding why I'm mad. "I also told her about… you know"

"What?" I ask. Christina didn't seem like someone who would reveal us. I would have expected it from Hope, maybe even Louise, but Christina?

"Don't worry" Miss Chatham says. "I've kept the secret together with my friends and I've kept the secret for your mothers. You can trust me"

I nod, still not convinced.

"Come on, sit down" Christina orders. "Miss Chatham has many interesting things to say"

Oh really? About bingo?

"I was just about to tell Christina about the full moon. Do you know what the full moon does to you dear?"

Did she just call me dear? Oh, come on! She doesn't even know me!

"No idea" I say.

"What does it do?" Christina asks in a sickly sweet voice.

"Oh, it's different. But when there is a full moon you have to stay away from water at any cost. And never, ever look at the moon"

Sounds like some stupid horror movie. Look at the moon and you'll turn into a werewolf. Boo. That was a scary ghost, have you heard it?

"Why?" I ask a little annoyed. The old lady laughs.

"You will see. Oh you will see"

Christina looks at me uncomfortable but that this old hag doesn't impress me.


	19. Thoughts

_**Yes, I know this chapter is horribly short and definitely boring, but I didn't have time to write more. We had visitors and I was busy all the time. It is completely out of context but I thought it might be a good place to show the thoughts of the former mermaids. **_

_**with Rikki**_

_Rikki needs time to think. She doesn't know how to feel about the whole situation. __She's still weak, but happy to be back home. _

_Still, nothing is the same. Her father has turned into an old man and the baby she held in her arms is a teenage girl. When she sees her… She reminds her of herself. Sure she doesn't look like her. Her hair for example. She got that from Zane. _

_Zane. What happened to him? Did he get married to someone else like she told him when she left? Does he still own the Rikki's? _

_Rikki knows that the café still exists but she didn't have the guts to walk in there and confront herself with her past. Maybe she should… Maybe she should just show up in front of Zane's front door and mess up his life once more. _

_Thoughtfully Rikki walks along the beach until she realizes where her feet took her. Lewis' secret fishing place. She smiles as she sits down on a rock. The sea is so blue today, so tempting. Oh, how she wishes she could be somewhere out there, away from everything else…_

_She should get going. Talk to her daughter, but Lorraine is always somewhere else. Rikki wonders what she does. Who her friends are, her hobbies… Does she have a boyfriend? _

**with Bella**

"_When is Hope home from work?"_

_Rick demands to know, pulling on Bella's dress._

"_Soon"_

_She promises a little stressed because she's trying to make Sina eat lunch for a few hours now. _

"_Maybe she doesn't come home. She has a secret"_

_Rose says and keeps doing her homework._

"_Don't say that! What secret?"_

_Rick asks interested._

"_She's a mermaid"_

_Rose admits, but then looks guilty because she wasn't supposed to tell someone. _

"_You're ten Rose, you don't believe in mermaids anymore"_

_Angel says and looks at her nail polish with furrowed eyebrows. _

"_She admitted she's a mermaid?" _

_Bella asks interested and sets the spoon down. Sina grins and grabs it. _

"_Mom! There is not such a thing as mermaids"_

_Angel whines._

"_You don't know that! You're dumb!"_

_Rick announces._

"_You take that back!"_

"_Make me!"_

_He gets up from his seat and runs away, chased by his older sister. Rose keeps doing her homework, or maybe she just scrabbles on her paper, Sina finally eats her lunch and Bella just sits there and replays memories in her head. She needs to have a serious talk with Hope. _

_**with Cleo & Lewis**_

_Cleo stares at the aquarium. She just got it and it reminds her so much of her youth it almost hurts._

"_Cleo?"_

_She hears her husband call from downstairs._

"_Yes! What is it?"_

"_I was wondering if you wanted to go the new exhibition. It's about mermaids"_

"_Sounds good!"_

"_Yes, but the artist… I think it might be Charlotte"_

"_Then we won't go. It's already bad enough to know that Louise hangs out with her daughter. We should forbid that because I don't want to see Charlotte ever again" _

**with Emma and Ash**

"_Can we talk?"_

_Emma asks awkwardly. She looks around, __her living room looks just like a few days ago but now she's a stranger in the house that once belonged to her. _

"_Yes. Sure"_

_Ash answers. _

_Emma just nods as she sits down next to him. _

"_I wanted to know if we could stay friends. If I could see Christina after the divorce"_

"_Who says she won't go to live with you?"_

_Ash asks._

"_You and her get along way better. Have you noticed anything special about her?"_

"_No"_

_Ash shrugs._

"_She… We had this encounter with a few gang members. And she fled into the water. Just like we did when we were… you know"_

"_Mermaids"_

_He says stunned by his soon-to-be-ex-wife's assumption. The thought seems absurd to him. He accepted Emma as what she was, but imagining his own daughter with a tail… No. No way. _

_**with Zane**_

_Zane is exhausted. He didn't really sleep since Lorraine told him that Rikki was awake. She is within his reach. He could just go to her trailer and he'd find her. He'd see her, her smile, he'd hear her voice, probably saying something humiliating. _

_What is Lorraine to her?_

_A niece? But Rikki didn't have siblings, did she? What else could she be? _

_A cousin? That was more than twenty years younger? No. _

_A daughter?_

_But then she must have been born shortly after Rikki left. Miriam's words keep echoing in his head._

_What if she really was his daughter?_

_Should he care?_

_Should he buy her nice things, just if? Just because there is the possibility? Should he try to get close to her? Should he try to get close to Rikki once more?_

_Just leave Miriam and fight for the woman he has always loved?_

_Would it be different this time? Would she turn him down once more or not?_


	20. Interrogation

**Wednesday**

Christina's POV

"We should totally spend the night together" Cody says after school.

"What?" I laugh nervously.

"You could sleep over at my house this Friday. My parents are not home and I first thought about having a party but I'm willing to sacrifice that for some private time with you. If you know what I mean." he pulls me close to him.

"Uhm" I struggle to get free. "I don't know if that's a good idea"

"Don't you love me baby? All of my friends are starting to laugh at me because you're so boring"

"You want that because you look bad in front of your friends?" I ask angrily.

"No, baby, you're hot" he quickly says. I sigh. He only calls me hot. Never pretty, never beautiful. Hot.

"Still…" I say unsure.

"Come on. I promise, it'll be hot" he says and gives me his widest beach-boy smile. His smile always makes me melt. I don't even care that he used the word hot again.

"Fine" I agree.

He grins triumphantly.

"Awesome" he pecks my lips once more, then walks away. I stay were I am with a bad feeling. I shouldn't have agreed. Why am I so dependant on a guy with a brain that seems to have the size of a peanut? Why do I ignore Louise only because one of his friends told me that Cody finds her hotter than me?

"Are you okay?" I hear Hope's voice behind me.

"Sure" I nod and can't help but feel guilty when I turn around and find Louise by her side. The five of us are doing some research today. I'm not sure if I really want to find out more about the killed woman, but I guess I have no choice.

* * *

The old man left us in the police archive all by ourselves. I have a feeling that this is highly illegal and I bet that Catherine feels the same way. Louise is too curious to worry, Lorraine seems not to care and Hope didn't realize yet that there's anything forbidden in this world. Lorraine grabs the first tape and we listen breathlessly.

"_Your name is Ryan__ Tate?"_

"_Yes, S__ir"_

"_Do you know why you are here?"_

"_No, S__ir" _

"_Sophie Benjamin. Does that ring a bell?" _

"_Yes. We once did some research on Mako Island together"_

"_Research, huh?"_

"_Yes, sir. I work for the National Park Authority. My specialty are rocks and Mako Island is a place that is really interesting in that way"_

"_You seem nervous"_

"_Yes, sir, I am pretty nervous. Could you tell me why I am here?"_

"_Well, Sophie Benjamin was found dead today and you were the last person she was seen with"_

"_She… She is dead? That… No"_

"_I'm sorry"_

"_How?"_

"_We found her on Mako Island. She was lying on the bank of a creek with a broken neck and a head injury. It looked like she fell from a pretty small rock formation. That could have been an accident or suicide although nobody would commit suicide when it was more likely that you break a leg instead of your neck. Besides the injury on her head seemed to be caused by a punch with something, probably a rock."_

"_And you think it was murder? Gosh… I can't believe that" _

"_Somebody set her already dead body on fire but it obviously went out soon because she was relatively wet"_

"_That… I can't believe that"_

"_Mr. Tate, you are the main suspect in this case because you were seen with her in a boat and you were heading out on the sea"_

"_Yes, we were on our way to Mako Island. Sir, please, I haven't done anything"_

"_What exactly happened that night on Mako Island? Why did you go there in the first place? Out of your schedule" _

"_I wanted to study the rocks, but the Authority doesn't support that project. Sophie came with me because she thought that we could find something expensive"_

"_And you did find something expensive?"_

"… _No Sir" _

"_Did you leave Miss. Benjamin on the Island all by herself? Without a boat?"_

"_No Sir. My wife and a friend of her with her husband showed up. Well, actually I never had the impression they were good friends, but Charlotte doesn't like to talk about that" _

"_Do you know the name of that friend?"_

"_I'm not sure… I think it was Emma" _

"_Why did they go there?"_

"_I don't know. My wife doesn't like it when I go to Mako Island and neither does her friend" _

"_Did she come back with you?"_

"_No…"_

"_Was she home between midnight and seven in the morning? ... Please answer the question" _

"_No. But she would have never done anything!"_

"_Of course not. Thank you Mr. Tate"_

The tape stops. All that's heard now are Catherine's soft sobs.

"Are you okay?" Louise asks concerned.

"That voice… That was my Dad! I haven't heard his voice since he went out with the boat in that stormy night and didn't come back!"

"Oh gosh" Hope hugs the crying girl and rocks her gently. "It's okay sweetie. Just cry"

I can't do anything but stare at her. It looks like our entire families have something to do with this story.

"Should I put the next tape in?" Lorraine asks unsure.

"Yes" I answer. "Next tape"

"_Your name is Charlotte__ Tate?"_

"_Watsford. I decided to keep my maiden name after marriage"_

"_Watsford. Mrs. Watsford, I'm sure your husband already talked to you" _

"_Well, yes, But I don't understand what you want from me" _

"_Where were you between midnight and seven in the morning?"_

"_I was out with a friend" _

"_A friend? You're husband said you were at Mako Island"_

"_Yes, but only for a few minutes. I wanted to make sure he was okay"_

"_Why? He said you don't like it when he's on Mako Island"_

"_I'm an artist. He tends to destroy fascinating rock formations for his projects" _

"_You went on an island in the middle of the night, just to stop your husband from destroying rock formations?"_

"_Yes. Well, actually I didn't like the fact that he was out there with Sophie. I didn't like her, you know? Nobody did. Especially not Rikki Chadwick. Sophie was the reason she and her boyfriend broke up, you know?" _

"_She wasn't on the Island that night, was she?" _

"_Uhm…"_

"_Mrs. Watsford?"_

"_Yes, yes she was"_

"_Do you think Rikki Chadwick could have done it?"_

"_What? No. No, Rikki could be really, really mean, but murder… No. Although… No"_

"_No?"_

"_I'm… I'm not sure anymore"_

"_Did she leave after you? Was Sophie still on the Island then?"_

"_I don't know. I might have… insulted Sophie a little and she took it hard and ran off. Rikki was still on the Island when she left"_

"_If you just wanted to stop your husband from hanging out with Miss. Benjamin, why didn't you and he leave together?"_

"_I wanted to set things straight and make clear that she has to back off" _

"_I see. Did Mr. and Mrs. Dove leave together with you?"_

"_Yes. I was a little upset so Emma took me to her place"_

"_At what time?"_

"_Shortly after midnight"_

"_Thank you, Mrs. Watsford." _

"Now we already have two people with a motive" Louise says. "Charlotte and Rikki. Both could have done it out of jealousy"

"My mother wouldn't kill someone" Catherine snorts.

"And my mother obviously was with her" I quickly add "She wouldn't have let something happen without telling the police. Besides, the dead body was set on fire. Sounds like Lorraine's mermaid powers, doesn't it? If her mother had the same powers…"

"Great. Blame it all on her" Lorraine sighs and throws her hands in the air. "Could we listen to the other tapes first?"

"Sure"

"_You are Emma Dove?"_

"_Yes"_

"_Are you comfortable?"_

"_Yes, thank you Sir"_

"_Mrs. Dove, why went you to Mako Island in your condition?" _

"_To support Charlotte. Sophie always seemed like a pretty mean person to me, although she definitely had her nice sides. We were friends" _

"_Really? That's something Mrs. Watsford didn't mention"_

"_Oh. She must have been so upset when she heard about it. She and Sophie were really tight. I can't believe that Sophie is gone…"_

"_So you haven't seen anything special that night? Anything special about Rikki Chadwick?"_

"_Rikki? Rikki was there? I stayed at the boat because I didn't want to risk anything, we all saw what happened to Isabella that night"_

"_Isabella?"_

"_Isabella Hartley. She was eight months pregnant. She and her boyfriend, Sophie's brother Will, had a picnic at Mako, but then she fell and immediately went into labor!"_

"_So they were there, too?" _

"_Yes. They were with another couple, Cleo and Lewis McCartney"_

"_How comes you know all of their names?"_

"_We were friend, a few years ago. Best friends"_

"_What happened?"_

"_I'd rather not talk about it"_

"_Mrs. Dove. It could be important"_

"_Sophie had nothing to do with it. She didn't even live here back then. I went on a trip around the world and when I came back nothing was the same. They had replaced me with Isabella and that… hurt"_

"_I understand. Thank you Mrs. Dove"_

"Everything must have happened the night I was born" Hope says. "We have a date then"

"Scary" Louise shutters. "You were born in the same night someone else was killed"

"That was pretty weird" I say thoughtfully. "I know my Mom and when she said she stayed at the boat she was lying. No doubt"

"_Mr. Dove. I only have a few questions for you to answer"_

"_Yes, sure"_

"_You stayed at the boat with your wife?"_

"_Yes, I stayed. Emma went away from the boat, but only for a few minutes"_

"_You didn't go with her?"_

"_No. She said she needed to pee and didn't want me with her. She has those horrible mood swings, so I thought I won't upset her anymore"_

"_How long did she stay away?"_

"_Five minutes, maybe a little longer. Charlotte, Emma and I were home around 1:00"_

"_That's it then, thank you"_

"So Emma could have seen something" Louise concludes.

"In a few minutes? I doubt that" I shake my head.

"Maybe your father was lying" Lorraine shrugs and I chew my lower lip because I fear she might be right.

"_Rikki Chadwick?"_

"_Yes, that's me" _

"_You know why you're here?"_

"_Of course. First of all, I want to set a few things strait. As much as I wished for Sophie to disappear out of my life, I would never have done anything to her"_

"_Charlotte made it seem like you would"_

"_Charlotte doesn't like me and I don't like her. Never have, never will. Trust me, she's sneaky. I remember when she tutored my friend just to keep her busy to have her out of the way so she can get closer to her boyfriend"_

"_Fact is, you were on Mako Island that night and according to Mrs. Watsford you were the last person that was alone with Miss. Benjamin" _

"_And I left as quickly as possible because I couldn't stand her one bit. Besides I had to get to the hospital to see how Bella was doing" _

"_Isabella Hartley?" _

"_Yes"_

"_Can she witness that you were there?"_

"_Yes. Of course. And Will. Cleo and Lewis had been there too but already left when I arrived" _

"_What time did you arrive at the hospital?"_

"_Around two I guess" _

"_Thank you Miss Chadwick"_

"Your Mom was there when I was born" Hope squeals happily and hugs Lorraine.

"Awesome" Lorraine answers dryly, but doesn't bother to push Hope off.

"She left way after the others" Catherine points out.

"No" I shake my head. "She arrived later, but the hospital is not really close to the beach. If she swam, it must have took some time"

"Who said she still had her powers?" Lorraine suddenly asks. I furrow my eyebrows.

"That's a good question" I admit. "What's on the other tapes?"

"This one was the last. They haven't kept the interrogations with my parents, the Benjamins or Mr. Bennett. So they obviously didn't make any additions" Louise shrugs.

"Then we have to figure it out with the information we got" Lorraine shrugs. "Or we organize a reunion"

"A reunion?" we all echo, not believing that we didn't have that idea any earlier.

"But a lot could go wrong!" Catherine whines.

"Or it could work" Lorraine says.

"When we reunite them, we could tell them, right? About the mermaid thingy" Hope asks. "I think my parents know anyway. My entire family seems to know"

I knew it. I knew she couldn't keep a secret. But a reunion… that's a risky idea.

"We need to find out more before we dare to do that" I finally decide and they all seem to be slightly fine with it. Catherine nods relieved, Hope looks at Lorraine who just shrugs and Louise…

Well, she just looks at me and gives me a nod. Guilt stings me. There is faith in her eyes and sadness. I just know she would love to be my friend. But what if I really have to choose between her and Cody?


End file.
